Pip but no movement - shrink wrapped?

[OneFowlMama]

it depends, that internal pip is what starts them breathing, and can take up while as that starts them absorbing the veins and yolk. some chicks do not chirp they are focused on getting out while others are like a song bird while they work on getting out so don't stress to much.

Thank you, I'll try to stop being such a worry wort I suppose, I've clicked the chirping sounds off in the room so I'll be able to hear my actual bubs ones once they internally pip hopefully! The humidity is sitting at a steady 62% now so I'm just going to take a few deep breaths and see what happens. I can't believe I thought lock down was going to be the easy part of hatching, how wrong I was!

 

[Jemima Duck]

I haven't noticed any movement of the other eggs yet, I didnt notice any last night with the one that did manage to pip either however. I haven't candled since lockdown but did mark the top of the eggs so I could notice any wobbling or movement from within, is this a sign that shrink wrapping could be occuring internally do you think? I'll wait until day 21 or 22 but I have read stories of some chicks only pipping on day 26, it's all so difficult to gauge an egg from the outside is what I'm learning! I'm so sorry about your little one but I'm really, really glad to hear your other two bubs pulled through with your help. <3

Thank you for the kind words about my lost duckling, I suppose the first few times disaster strikes will really hurt.

I don't think what you have mentioned is a sign of shrink wrapping, so you seem safe there. I have heard that humidity really matters when they have externally pip, so I was candling mine up until one of mine externally pipped (and then a while after there was no progress). It seems the vast majority of people wouldn't suggest doing that though, as obviously humidity will be lost. The main reason I made the decision to do it was because I just knew something was wrong with the hatch, especially after seeing one baby had died...everything was taking too long.

I feel as though I should specify that when I had to break the shell and move the membrane out of the way of the two duckling's mouths, I made sure to not remove too much membrane (as they can bleed out), and not remove too little membrane that they could still get their mouth/nostrils covered. I only did this because I candled the eggs and saw movement still, and yet it had been days since they started internally pipping.

It's one of those situations where you can get all the advice in the world, but you have to make the decisions in the end based off of your best judgement of the situation.

 

[slordaz]

Thank you, I'll try to stop being such a worry wort I suppose, I've clicked the chirping sounds off in the room so I'll be able to hear my actual bubs ones once they internally pip hopefully! The humidity is sitting at a steady 62% now so I'm just going to take a few deep breaths and see what happens. I can't believe I thought lock down was going to be the easy part of hatching, how wrong I was!

I learned to hatch out in one of the hardest ones when trying to do it at high elevations as it's a different set of problems, Lock down is the hardest parts for us playing mother hens.

Those monthly Hatch alongs at least you have a bunch of people at varying degrees of expertise there supporting each other.

 

[slordaz]

it also helps if your hatching out of your own flock or similar in elevations. Hatching shipped eggs have to be let sit for 24 hours before putting them in the incubator, so you can tell if you have detached or saddle air cells to deal with too.

 

[LynnaePB]

I've commonly heard from internal to external can take up to 24 hours and then external to zipping can take up to another 24 hours (sometimes longer but after 24 from external pip is usually the time when people who do feel comfortable assisting would assist).

I saw very little movement from my last hatchers (just finished hatching today actually) and they peeped very infrequently but they were fine and hatched out perfectly!

I fully agree with Jemima Duck and would add whether you assist or not is a personal choice and you aren't wrong if you decide you want to or you don't. It's a delicate process if you do so it is very good to be prepared if you choose to go that route and study up on how to do it correctly. I personally am very hands on and have assisted many times mostly ending in success, that's just what I'm most comfortable with and what works for me however

 

[OneFowlMama]

it also helps if your hatching out of your own flock or similar in elevations. Hatching shipped eggs have to be let sit for 24 hours before putting them in the incubator, so you can tell if you have detached or saddle air cells to deal with too.

I purchased these eggs from a breeder on the other side of town, I just purchased some more from a different breeder as well that I'll be putting into my new incubator over the next few days after they've settled. As a rule of thumb from googling I made an internal pact to give 48 hours to any eggs that I don't get from my own flock just to be safe. My new incubator is a River Systems ET49 as they had the best reviews I could find (which they'd want to for the price!). The one my eggs are currently in is a cheap 70 dollarydoo deal from China which is why I've made habit of checking the temps and humidities every 2-4 hours and keeping a journal of all recalibrations and fluctuations. Really excited to see the difference between my $70 and $600 bators.

 

[slordaz]

I purchased these eggs from a breeder on the other side of town, I just purchased some more from a different breeder as well that I'll be putting into my new incubator over the next few days after they've settled. As a rule of thumb from googling I made an internal pact to give 48 hours to any eggs that I don't get from my own flock just to be safe. My new incubator is a River Systems ET49 as they had the best reviews I could find (which they'd want to for the price!). The one my eggs are currently in is a cheap 70 dollarydoo deal from China which is why I've made habit of checking the temps and humidities every 2-4 hours and keeping a journal of all recalibrations and fluctuations. Really excited to see the difference between my $70 and $600 bators.

not familiar with the river system, but just tried one of those cheap ones from China, and actually hatched 4/5 in it, one died without even internally pipping, had absorbed the veins and yolk and died., In the spring I bring out the hoverbators one for incubating and the other for lock down. I usually get 83-85% hatch rate in them with bigger numbers, ordered the small Chinese one for test hatching

 

[OneFowlMama]

I've commonly heard from internal to external can take up to 24 hours and then external to zipping can take up to another 24 hours (sometimes longer but after 24 from external pip is usually the time when people who do feel comfortable assisting would assist).

I saw very little movement from my last hatchers (just finished hatching today actually) and they peeped very infrequently but they were fine and hatched out perfectly!

I fully agree with Jemima Duck and would add whether you assist or not is a personal choice and you aren't wrong if you decide you want to or you don't. It's a delicate process if you do so it is very good to be prepared if you choose to go that route and study up on how to do it correctly. I personally am very hands on and have assisted many times mostly ending in success, that's just what I'm most comfortable with and what works for me however

I'm really happy you had a successful hatch! I think I'll be okay with the idea of assisting if absolutely necessary, I still haven't heard any peeps from my other eggs but I think I'll wait until day 23 and try to do a quick candle and see what's happening if I still haven't heard anything, my only concern is if they've all internally pipped at the same time or not that if I leave it too late it'll be too late to help. Such a conundrum! Hopefully they start talking back to me so I can get an idea of what's going on soon!

 

[slordaz]

I'm really happy you had a successful hatch! I think I'll be okay with the idea of assisting if absolutely necessary, I still haven't heard any peeps from my other eggs but I think I'll wait until day 23 and try to do a quick candle and see what's happening if I still haven't heard anything, my only concern is if they've all internally pipped at the same time or not that if I leave it too late it'll be too late to help. Such a conundrum! Hopefully they start talking back to me so I can get an idea of what's going on soon!

I usually take a chance and Candle at end of day 21. and then add more water if I need to increase humidity, I found running a vaporizer helped so that humidity was at least same or better than in the incubator. before long you'll know when and what to do, this is the 3rd year i've been hatching with other than a broody.

 

[OneFowlMama]

I usually take a chance and Candle at end of day 21. and then add more water if I need to increase humidity, I found running a vaporizer helped so that humidity was at least same or better than in the incubator.

Okay, I'll wait until tomorrow night and see if my sister can lend me a humidifier for the room, I live in Australia and while it's typically pretty humid where I live it's been quite dry over the last few days so my house is lacking in the humidity department quite a bit. Hopefully these bubs just do their thing without any hiccups and I end up with some beautiful little ones without much more drama! Really was hoping it'd be like stories I've read where they went to bed and woke up to a bator full of healthy chicks!