Pip but no movement - shrink wrapped?

[Jemima Duck]

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 glad someone agrees with me, as a hatching newbie I thought I might be talking out of my a**. It's great to hear someone else shares the opinion that being hands on in regards to the hatching process is good.

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!

Is there any chance that the next time you go to top the water up etc, you could quickly candle an egg or two? That is what I would personally do, making sure to put the lid right back on while you are doing the candling. That way you will know what stage your chicks are at, so you can time when you assist the hatch (if you choose to do that of course).

 

[LynnaePB]

Thank you! A successful hatch is such a wonderful experience, I really hope your little ones don't make you wait too long and they don't end up needing assistance!

I would also take the chance and candle when you can do so in a good environment (that's just me though). I'm lucky in that I have an incubator where I can position my eggs to be able to candle through the viewing window without having to open my incubator so I usually know when they internally pip and if something seems off.

 

[OneFowlMama]

I'm glad someone agrees with me, as a hatching newbie I thought I might be talking out of my a**. It's great to hear someone else shares the opinion that being hands on in regards to the hatching process is good.



Is there any chance that the next time you go to top the water up etc, you could quickly candle an egg or two? That is what I would personally do, making sure to put the lid right back on while you are doing the candling. That way you will know what stage your chicks are at, so you can time when you assist the hatch (if you choose to do that of course).

I'll see how the humidity levels go tonight, I still have the corner propped up to keep it at 61% so depending what happens once I take it out if I need to add more water I'll try and give it a go, hopefully the little ones can just give me some sort of sign they're okay before then! The prospect of already having lost one bub is hard but the thought of the other 5 lost in the great unknown right now is even harder!

 

[OneFowlMama]

Thank you! A successful hatch is such a wonderful experience, I really hope your little ones don't make you wait too long and they don't end up needing assistance!

I would also take the chance and candle when you can do so in a good environment (that's just me though). I'm lucky in that I have an incubator where I can position my eggs to be able to candle through the viewing window without having to open my incubator so I usually know when they internally pip and if something seems off.

My new bator has two windows in it as well so hopefully my next batch will be alot easier to observe, I'll ask my sister today if I can grab her humidifier to prep the room for the potential candling tonight. Lucky for me we live on the same farm so I don't have to journey far to get it and she'll be able to assist if she needs to!

 

[slordaz]

your lucky you were able to sleep, took a long time to sleep during the 3 or more days of lock down, due to lock down was when I lost the hatches using the LG, it freaked out raising the humidity for lock down and fried the poor chicks. Took me several hatches with other incubators that were successful before could start sleeping during lock down after that.

 

[OneFowlMama]

your lucky you were able to sleep, took a long time to sleep during the 3 or more days of lock down, due to lock down was when I lost the hatches using the LG, it freaked out raising the humidity for lock down and fried the poor chicks. Took me several hatches with other incubators that were successful before could start sleeping during lock down after that.

I'm really sorry to hear that, I really can't and don't want to imagine what that situation must've felt like for you. I'm already feeling quite devastated and guilty over my one bub and the anticipated struggles of my other 5. I was asleep for about 5 hours last night so the pip happened pretty quickly. I don't think I'll be sleeping over the next few days unless these bubs give me a reason to, I've been trying so hard to do everything as right as I could so hopefully they'll all be okay and just hatch the way nature intended without my interference!

 

[slordaz]

I'm really sorry to hear that, I really can't and don't want to imagine what that situation must've felt like for you. I'm already feeling quite devastated and guilty over my one bub and the anticipated struggles of my other 5. I was asleep for about 5 hours last night so the pip happened pretty quickly. I don't think I'll be sleeping over the next few days unless these bubs give me a reason to, I've been trying so hard to do everything as right as I could so hopefully they'll all be okay and just hatch the way nature intended without my interference!

Don't be so hard on yourself we all learned from our mistakes. once you get it figured out for your area and get good hatch rates and are comfortable with your knowledge you'll come to realize sometimes some chicks just don't make it for some reason, be it flock nutrition of the parents, genetics, incubator issues etc, to many variables. hoping you have a good hatch though with no further stress.

 

[OneFowlMama]

Don't be so hard on yourself we all learned from our mistakes. once you get it figured out for your area and get good hatch rates and are comfortable with your knowledge you'll come to realize sometimes some chicks just don't make it for some reason, be it flock nutrition of the parents, genetics, incubator issues etc, to many variables. hoping you have a good hatch though with no further stress.

Thank you so much for all your help and kindness, I came into this knowing there was a chance I could end up with no bubs and trying to be prepared for that scenario but being in the midst of it is a lot easier on paper and harder on the heart. I've already learnt so much from all of this, from accidental yolk pipping through to when I need to be more proactive in taking action or let things be. All I can do is be thankful for these lessons and hope that at the end of the day I have a bub to be grateful for. If not this time around then hopefully the next, it's all in the hands of time now so I can only pray those hands are healing and gracious.

 

[slordaz]

Thank you so much for all your help and kindness, I came into this knowing there was a chance I could end up with no bubs and trying to be prepared for that scenario but being in the midst of it is a lot easier on paper and harder on the heart. I've already learnt so much from all of this, from accidental yolk pipping through to when I need to be more proactive in taking action or let things be. All I can do is be thankful for these lessons and hope that at the end of the day I have a bub to be grateful for. If not this time around then hopefully the next, it's all in the hands of time now so I can only pray those hands are healing and gracious.

to bad not closer, I got 6 chicks 2 week olds that were a surprise but wanted to check as the hatch prior was just before the rooster started molting and had very few that were fertile. put 15 in with a second egg from my RIW, I wanted to see how that young cockerel was doing. and it actually hatched a chick ,and 11 of them turned out infertile when I usually had 100% fertility

 

[slordaz]

so today should be hatch day did we wake up to any babies out?

Also it's a good idea to have some coconut oil on hand just in case if you notice a pip that looks like it's drying out ,it will keep it moist and give a chick in trouble a chance. Cornstarch or stypix is good in case a chick has a slight umbilical bleed from being to over eager to separate from the egg before the umbilical cord dries up, just a little tidbit for future reference. We are good enablers here and pretty soon you'll be joining us hatch aholics lol.