Please help! Do I need to put coconut oil on pip?

[HeatherKellyB]

Last time I asked, you were hatching quail. Have you left the turner in place in the NR360 for hatching? I honestly believe at least one of Mally's eggs was developing. The only thing I can think of happening is that the chicks knocked it around a lot after they hatched. Sadly with the egg being so dark, I can't see much of anything in the egg. I don't know if it needs or needed assistance. I guess it's a possibility that I set it along with this other CCL. I have made so many mistakes during this entire time I've been trying to incubate eggs. I feel so bad for any chicks that needed my help or that I accidentally drowned but raising the humidity too much before I should have. Now that I know how easy it is to lose track of the date the egg was set, I write the date on every egg now, as I'm putting it into the incubator. I was tracing air cells but I had so many that were awful, I stopped. I would like to keep up with weight and air cell to gauge humidity at some point. Next time, I will also trace the air cells as I candle right before lockdown. I feel like that would be very helpful. I do feel like I'm not incubating with enough humidity because the air cells seem large. It's normally around 25%. Anything else that you feel is important that I'm not doing? I'm always so nervous as I candle right before lockdown. I will be a bit shaky because I feel like need to rush but I'm worried that I'll break an egg or that it'll cool off too much while I'm holding it. I worry about opening and closing the incubator and temp/humidity fluctuations because I am taking each egg out and putting it back individually. There are so many things that I have learned, thank to you. I seriously appreciate you and your time and knowledge shared with me, so very much. I am so grateful for you

 

[MGG]

Last time I asked, you were hatching quail. Have you left the turner in place in the NR360 for hatching? I honestly believe at least one of Mally's eggs was developing. The only thing I can think of happening is that the chicks knocked it around a lot after they hatched. Sadly with the egg being so dark, I can't see much of anything in the egg. I don't know if it needs or needed assistance. I guess it's a possibility that I set it along with this other CCL. I have made so many mistakes during this entire time I've been trying to incubate eggs. I feel so bad for any chicks that needed my help or that I accidentally drowned but raising the humidity too much before I should have. Now that I know how easy it is to lose track of the date the egg was set, I write the date on every egg now, as I'm putting it into the incubator. I was tracing air cells but I had so many that were awful, I stopped. I would like to keep up with weight and air cell to gauge humidity at some point. Next time, I will also trace the air cells as I candle right before lockdown. I feel like that would be very helpful. I do feel like I'm not incubating with enough humidity because the air cells seem large. It's normally around 25%. Anything else that you feel is important that I'm not doing? I'm always so nervous as I candle right before lockdown. I will be a bit shaky because I feel like need to rush but I'm worried that I'll break an egg or that it'll cool off too much while I'm holding it. I worry about opening and closing the incubator and temp/humidity fluctuations because I am taking each egg out and putting it back individually. There are so many things that I have learned, thank to you. I seriously appreciate you and your time and knowledge shared with me, so very much. I am so grateful for you

Yes, I hatched 11 quail successfully in the turner. The actual turner was unplugged of course though. I don't know that it would work for chickens though, since their eggs are a fair amount bigger. What day are Mally's eggs on? Any shadowing or activity in the air cell? If you think your humidity is too ow you could up it to 35-40%. That's what I usually incubate chickens at. I like the 38% range the best. I never did the weighing thing, that's too confusing for me
I trace air cells, and make sure they're big enough. I like to err on the them being bigger side, just to be safe. I don't like too small ones, since that usually means too high humidity, and too high humidity also equals really big chicks that are unable to turn to zip.
Don't worry about the eggs at all when candling at lockdown. They are much more hot?cold tolerant at that stage and can cool off for several hours and be just fine. They're better at surviving spikes too. Just keep that in mind, and be very careful not to drop them. I get shaky sometimes too, especially at at the worst moments and with valuable eggs, lol. I did drop an egg once, day 17, during candling. I was unable to save it. Now I only hold the eggs low, and over a couch or soft pillow/blanket.
When I candle the eggs whether it's lockdown or not (unless there are external pips) I remove the whole lid and sit it next to the incubator. Then I candle each egg. I usually do about 20 seconds for each egg. Then I mist the eggs lightly and put the lid back on, making sure it's lined up. It doesn't matter if the temp or humidity fluctuates for a minute or two while it restabilizes. Maybe don't do this more than once or twice a day though. The NR does great at quickly stabilizing temp and humidity though.
You're doing really well. I know I've said it before, but there's a major learning curve with hatching. I think it's funny what lengths we go to try and mimic a hen. All they do is sit there, and their hatch rates are better half the time, lol.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Good evening @MGG I hope you've had a nice day today. I possibly have a (self induced) problem on my hands. I've been checking the last CCL egg and Mally's egg all throughout the day. I actually thought I would be removing Mally's egg, but whenever I candled, I was able to see the chick shadowing! Ever since then the egg has been moving A LOT. The last CCL egg has been moving each and every single time I would go check and shine a light on them, then it just stopped moving for the next 3 or 4 checks. I decided to quickly sneak it out and candle it because I was worried that it was no longer alive, but I could see the chick shadowing so I quickly put it back. Since then, both eggs have been moving a lot. My problem is that knowing this, I have no idea what day they were set. Obviously they were set at least 2 days behind the others, but possibly even more days. I know that Mally's egg was laid on Day 198 (of 365) but that's the only thing I know for sure. What do you think? I really hope they don't need assistance because unless it's after the external pip, I won't know. Thoughts?

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Also, I sent pic to the breeder that I purchased the Serama eggs from and she said that my chick is a pullet! She has some silkie feathered Serama cockerels that are the same age as my pullet, if I want a mate. That's so exciting! I'm trying to figure everything out because I really want to get her a friend. I know that she's lonely

 

[MGG]

Good evening @MGG I hope you've had a nice day today. I possibly have a (self induced) problem on my hands. I've been checking the last CCL egg and Mally's egg all throughout the day. I actually thought I would be removing Mally's egg, but whenever I candled, I was able to see the chick shadowing! Ever since then the egg has been moving A LOT. The last CCL egg has been moving each and every single time I would go check and shine a light on them, then it just stopped moving for the next 3 or 4 checks. I decided to quickly sneak it out and candle it because I was worried that it was no longer alive, but I could see the chick shadowing so I quickly put it back. Since then, both eggs have been moving a lot. My problem is that knowing this, I have no idea what day they were set. Obviously they were set at least 2 days behind the others, but possibly even more days. I know that Mally's egg was laid on Day 198 (of 365) but that's the only thing I know for sure. What do you think? I really hope they don't need assistance because unless it's after the external pip, I won't know. Thoughts?

Thanks, I had a good day. Hopefully you did too.
So they're both shadowing? If they're shadowing they're at least day 18 probably. I would candle one more time max tonight, right before you go to bed. I think they'll be ok. It's next to impossible to assist a chick that hasn't at least internally pipped. There's really nothing you can do yet, so stay calm and hope for the best. They're probably still early yet. What is your humidity at right now? I think it would be best to keep it in the 45-50% range until internal pip, to prevent drowning. They don't need the humidity until they externally pip anyway. But you don't want to have it that low once they externally pip because they'll dry out quick. So once you see an internal pip up it to whatever you had it at for the CCLs and Spitz. Hopefully they make it!
Once an egg has made it this far be sure not to pull it until day 25. I like to eggtopsy all of mine too (even though it's sad) to try and guess what went wrong to prevent the issue in future hatches. I've found several sticky chicks, (too high humidity) small chicks, (cold spots) huge chicks that failed to pip, (too high humidity) etc. It's a good learning experience.
Keep me posted! I'll try to check in later.

 

[MGG]

Also, I sent pic to the breeder that I purchased the Serama eggs from and she said that my chick is a pullet! She has some silkie feathered Serama cockerels that are the same age as my pullet, if I want a mate. That's so exciting! I'm trying to figure everything out because I really want to get her a friend. I know that she's lonely

Yay!!!!! That's great. So Marionette it is. It's probably stilk impossible to be 100% sure though. She will really benefit from some friends I think. Make sure they're either really young or really tame though so they don't make Marionette wild.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

So there are 2 of Mally's eggs and one of them I felt like was DIS but I smelled it and it had no odor so I just put it over to the side. The other one I was able to see the chick working (shadowing) so I placed it where the air cell was where I normally check. The last CCL egg was shadowing yesterday but still no internal pip last time I checked but I did still see shadowing. Well tonight, Mally's egg that I put to the side, IS MOVING! We have an external pip in Mally's other egg and the CCL is still showing some movement. I'm increasing the humidity now so Mally's chick does not shrink wrap. I still can't believe her other egg is moving whenever I shine light on it! Hopefully I'll have 2 more external pips very soon and then three strong and healthy chicks tomorrow. Thank you. One of them is chirping like it's mad and another one is chirping softly

 

[HeatherKellyB]

@MGG I went in to check on the 2 external pips then came down to look through this thread in search of info on turning the egg over if the external pip is towards the ground. After about 30 minutes, I went back to check on them again and SURPRISE! Check out this sleeping cutie!

 

[MGG]

@MGG I went in to check on the 2 external pips then came down to look through this thre
ad in search of info on turning the egg over if the external pip is towards the ground. After about 30 minutes, I went back to check on them again and SURPRISE! Check out this sleeping cutie!
View attachment 2284806

Is this one of Mally's? Congrats!!!
I never turn over eggs if they pip on the wrong side, it can disorient them. Looks like he managed quite well! Lol.
He's adorable

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Thank you! Yes this is one of Mally's. The CCL is the one that externally pipped towards the floor. It's very awkward trying to check on the chick but last time I checked, I was able to see the shell moving a tiny bit. Hopefully it will hatch strong and healthy