Over due hatching

[Sscas]

I have two polish chicken eggs that on day 21 I could here pecking and one of them chirping, day 22 heard chirping from the same egg after that I did not hear anything on day 23 it is now day 25 and still no hatchinf and no more sounds why did they die what did I do wrong temperature was 99.5 humidity between 65 and 70 during lockdown?

 

[Rockporters]

What was your temp and humidity during incubation? Have you candled them?

 

[Sscas]

95.5 humity 50% till 18th day lock down 65-70

 

[Rockporters]

Have you candled recently? You should candle the eggs to look for movement.

 

[Sscas]

Yes I did candle and I saw movement early in the stages like I said date 21 and 22 they were packing and peeping sound but after that nothing I open the eggs and they were both dead this is day 25 they are fully developed don’t understand what went wrong does anybody know what could’ve happened I did everything I’ve been reading as far as the temperature in the humidity and did everything right just don’t know what happened

 

[Rockporters]

Ugh, I’m sorry. It sucks to lose them at the end like that. In my limited experience, what I’d look at is:

How were the air cells? Large/small/just right, were there any deformities in the air cells? (detached, saddle, too far to one side)

Were the chicks big or small for the size of egg and air cell?

Were you using the temp/humidity readings on the incubator, or did you lay a calibrated thermometer and hygrometer in the incubator? I ask because often the readings are inaccurate on the machines. A manual “people” thermometer is great for spotting any temp spikes that you might not otherwise catch.

Sometimes it just happens. There might have been something wrong that you couldn’t have done anything about, that you couldn’t see, etc..

I’m sure someone with more experience will chime in. I’m really sorry for your loss. I also found a dis/quitter in my hatch this morning. It’s frustrating and disappointing.

 

[Sscas]

When I candled the air cell look right but I don’t know, could I have cracked the egg on day 22 since I was still hearing one of them peeping away and pipping?

 

[Rockporters]

In my experience, it’s usually best not to intervene. Sadly, the outcome usually ends up the same. My new rule for myself is to only intervene if it is taking too long during zipping.

But if you can’t sit by and let nature take its course... You could candle on day 22 to look for an internal pip and check on chick positioning. If you were to do anything, and it had pipped internally a while ago, maybe poke a tiny hole with a sterilized needle in the air cell— while candling to know where chick is, of course. If after a while there is still no progress, chip away a tiny bit of shell around that hole with tweezers, but don’t tear the membrane. Personally, I wouldn’t intervene much more that that. I speak from experience when I say... intervening rarely works in the chick’s (or your) favor.