pipping...but its too early?

[Ridgerunner]

From this site:

Florida Incubation Troubleshooting
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204


Sign: Chicks hatch early; tendency to be thin and noisy. Causes:

a.Small eggs.

b.Differences among breeds.

c.Incubator temperature too high.

d.Incubator humidity too low.

It is quite possible your thermometer or hygrometer are not really, truly accurate. Did you calibrate them? Some more links.

Rebel’s Thermometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/ThermometerCalibration.html

Rebel’s Hygrometer Calibration
http://cmfarm.us/HygrometerCalibration.html


Hatching that early is not real unusual. If you can, I'd suggest lowering yoru incubator temperature by about 1/4 degree C for your next hatch and check your hatch timing. It should get closer to the 21 days.

 

[Highlander]

Quote:
Temp should be 37.5. They are early because of your high temps.

 

[spish]

ah at least i know why now

was so sure i'd read 38.5-39 was the right temp. lucky i didnt cook the poor things

 

[SunnyDawn]

Quote:

They'll probably be fine. I have had a couple of crooked toes when the temps are too high but other than that no problems. I did have to buy a new thermostat that I could calibrate to the correct temps though.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
In a still air incubator the temperature should be 38.6 C (101.5 F) at the top of the eggs. In a still air incubator, hot air rises and the temperature will vary depending on height in the incubator.

In a forced air incubator, the temperature should be 37.5 C (99.5 F). A forced air incubator should have the same temperature throughout.

Hatching is not an instantaneous process. The chick positions itself inside the egg. It pips. After pipping it rests, absorbs the yolk and goes though other preparations for hatch. This can take many hours. 12 hours seems to be a reasonable time, but this can vary. Sometimes it is a lot less. Sometimes they pip on the bottom and you don't see the pip. When it is ready, it zips. Then it pushes the egg shell apart. Zipping and pushing the egg shell apart is usually a continuous process, but sometimes the chick rests some during this part of the process.

They will not all go through this process at exactly the same time, even if you get your temperature and humidity perfect. Different breeds have a tendency to hatch at a variance to this. Seramas, for example, tend to hatch early. An egg that is small for the breed, such as a pullet egg, tends to hatch early. An egg that is large for the breed tends to hatch later. Heredity can play a part. Some individual chickens have genetics that makes them hatch early or late. A University of Virginia paper suggested you should pick your breeders from chicks that hatch at the proper time. Many different things go into when an individual egg hatches. Ideally, some should start pipping early on the 20th day and all should be through by the end of the 21st day, but pipping on the 19th day or finishing on the 22nd day is not at all out of reasonable bounds.

 

[7L Farm]

I just hatched 30 & the first 8 days temps were 103. They piped on day 19 & hatched on day 20.