Plastic Mesh in Incubator

[Niki_M]

You don't ever want to put something solid like paper towels on the floor grid of your incubators, even the 1/4" wire floors. It impedes the air flow over the water wells and will mess up your humidity. You never want to impede your air flow. They will be just fine as they are

I left them alone. I was thinking about the airflow as well. I'm glad that I asked.

 

[spartacus_63]

For those concerned about moving eggs after they have pipped, how do you keep the early hatches from disturbing the late hatchers?
Chick positioning in the egg is not disturbed by the egg being repositioned. A properly positioned chick would still hatch even if it were upside down.

 

[Niki_M]

Day 22. No pips, no movement, nothing on any of the 28 eggs.

 

[red horse ranch]

It doesn't sound good. I would go ahead and candle a few of the eggs to see if they are still alive. If you think your incubator temperature might have been a little low it might be a good idea to wait another day.

Most of us have had this happen to us and sometimes it just works out that way.

 

[Niki_M]

The secondary device that I have in the incubator is consistent with the temperature and humidity on the incubator. It's been 99.5 and the whole time. I'll candle tomorrow. It's just so odd that none of them are hatching.

 

[red horse ranch]

I'm not sure where you are located but if the chickens that produced the eggs are just coming out of a hard winter they may be low on vitamins and protein. That can affect the viability of the eggs. I'm so sorry that you've had a bad experience with this hatch.

 

[Niki_M]

I hadn't thought of that! I had some issues with the mail, and as a result, my eggs arrived days apart. The 6 silkies (from NJ) that arrived first had to go in Friday. The rest arrived Sunday and went in Monday. So 28 total, 25 made it to lockdown, and 3 are almost past their prime. I'm letting them go until Thursday. The other two sets came from NC and GA (so there is still hope) but I'm thinking the NJ ones were likely not successful because of just coming out of the harsh winter.

 

[Niki_M]

I'm not sure where you are located but if the chickens that produced the eggs are just coming out of a hard winter they may be low on vitamins and protein. That can affect the viability of the eggs. I'm so sorry that you've had a bad experience with this hatch.

Should I try to sneak one of the silkies out to candle if the rest still have hope?

 

[red horse ranch]

Shipped eggs are always iffy but it sounds like you had a good percentage to develop. If the Silkies are several days overdo then I would candle them. Just be careful of your humidity.

 

[Niki_M]

Shipped eggs are always iffy but it sounds like you had a good percentage to develop. If the Silkies are several days overdo then I would candle them. Just be careful of your humidity.

I hear chirping!!!! I'm not seeing pips, but I hear them. Should I open the first oxygen plug?