PLEASE HELP EARLY HATCH!

[Tankueray]

If that's a standard forced air styrofoam incubator, you should be able to add water without opening it via holes in the bottom or at the top with a turkey baster or syringe with a tube attached to it. Open up your vent holes so there's plenty of oxygen in there and watch that humidity level.

Edit: It doesn't look like styrofoam. Use whatever that incubator's functions/features have to try to accomplish the same thing though.

 

[Hatcher1997]

Leave it alone, keep the temp and humidity good (80% to 85%, or as high as you can), don't open the incubator again unless you absolutely have to. Even a short period of the incubator open can dry out the internal membrane.
That looks like a good pip, if he's strong enough he'll finish out just fine. Sometimes you'll see a pip and then nothing for 12-24 hours, that's okay. It takes a lot of energy to internally pip and then crack the shell open. They will sleep and recover energy for quite some time before starting to zip.

Thank you so much! Will increasing it not effect the other in inside as I thought these were both Muscovy, but my partner is looking at the beak coming through and it looks more like a chicken! Which makes more sense for a day 22 hatch? I’m now not sure if the other is a Muscovy or not but I was told they both were. Thank you

 

[Hatcher1997]

If that's a standard forced air styrofoam incubator, you should be able to add water without opening it via holes in the bottom or at the top with a turkey baster or syringe with a tube attached to it. Open up your vent holes so there's plenty of oxygen in there and watch that humidity level.

Edit: It doesn't look like styrofoam. Use whatever that incubator's functions/features have to try to accomplish the same thing though.

It’s a brinsea mini echo. I’ve had the outside water well filled but the tubing has obviously decided to stop working as it doesn’t fill the internal well. I’ve opened it to full up both wells and hope for the best. I’m wondering if I should add any cotton wool soaked in water to raise it as it’s not increasing, but I’ve already opened the incubator a few times now to try out the anti slip matt down etc

 

[Tankueray]

Chicken is more likely at 22 days. I've never done Muscovy, just regular ducks. It shouldn't, ducks inherently have a higher humidity incubation because, well, they're ducks. They're always in the water whereas chickens aren't that fond of it. That's also why duck eggs have that "slime coat" bloom, to protect from the additional environmental factors that chickens don't subject their eggs to.

 

[Tankueray]

It’s a brinsea mini echo. I’ve had the outside water well filled but the tubing has obviously decided to stop working as it doesn’t fill the internal well. I’ve opened it to full up both wells and hope for the best. I’m wondering if I should add any cotton wool soaked in water to raise it as it’s not increasing, but I’ve already opened the incubator a few times now to try out the anti slip matt down etc

Yeah, that's tiny, humidity and temp swings from opening it will seem more extreme. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to see if that humidity comes back up before you take any additional action.

 

[Hatcher1997]

Yeah, that's tiny, humidity and temp swings from opening it will seem more extreme. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to see if that humidity comes back up before you take any additional action.

Okay thank you, I’ve read conflicting advice that if I raise it too high chickens will just drown? But then others are saying 80%? Not sure what to do. Thank you

 

[Hatcher1997]

Leave it alone, keep the temp and humidity good (80% to 85%, or as high as you can), don't open the incubator again unless you absolutely have to. Even a short period of the incubator open can dry out the internal membrane.
That looks like a good pip, if he's strong enough he'll finish out just fine. Sometimes you'll see a pip and then nothing for 12-24 hours, that's okay. It takes a lot of energy to internally pip and then crack the shell open. They will sleep and recover energy for quite some time before starting to zip.

Do I also need to decrease temperature or anything? As the other one is still in here, I don’t want the chick getting too hot though

 

[Tankueray]

Chickens will drown if the humidity has been too high for the entire incubation period. They need the high humidity during hatch. All eggs are supposed to lose a certain amount of fluid during incubation, low temps or high humidity prior to lockdown prevent the optimum fluid loss, but if you've kept it at 99.5F and under 70% up until now, it should be okay.

Not right now, leave the temp at 99.5 and don't open it to prevent temp and humidity swings. You may have to vent some after it hatches because the humidity will increase, but unless it's fogging up the whole thing or over 85%, you should still be fine. (If the other one pips because it's a chicken, you can lower the temp to 99.0 if the humidity is really high to help mitigate it.) I lower my cabinet hatcher to 98.5-99.0 when I put them in lockdown, but that's from experience with my breeds and equipment, I can't give you an exact answer for yours.

(Never raise temp above 100 unless it's a breed-specific requirement. Temps above 101 for extended periods can kill an embryo or cause defects.)

Once it hatches, and that still could take 24-48 hours before it does, leave it in there so the other one can hatch. It can survive for around 72 hours on the absorbed yolk. A chick peeping and nudging the other eggs signals the other ones to hatch.

I looked up Muscovy and they can take up to 37 days, so there's a pretty good chance you've got at least one chicken there. If for some reason the other one is actually a Muscovy, you should be able to let this one hatch and remove it quickly after waiting to make sure the other one hasn't pipped, and keep on trucking until day 30 for the real lockdown. Again, I'm not versed on Muscovy, but other eggs can withstand a day or more of not rotating after they're far enough along in development, so you can put the rotator back in and go from there. The chick knocking the other egg around in an incubator that small will keep it from sticking anyway.

I've had chickens sneak eggs in duck nests more than once, it happens; so if you trust your source, give them a little grace and ask for a refund or replacement. If they're both chicken, I'd question your source a little more though.

Make sure the temp and humidity is stable and then go get your brooder set up for a chicken, make a soothing drink, and do something to keep you from hovering over that incubator. The longer you worry over it, the more likely you are to open it when you shouldn't. We've all done it. It's okay to check on it, but put your hands in your pockets.

 

[DavidReaves]

I'm a biologist; former jobs include working in an endangered species breeding program, wildlife conservation and education, zookeeper, and animal trainer. I build robots and CNC machines for fun. I know how to use duct tape and bailing wire. I'm prone to long-winded, technical explanations; you'd better go pee now before reading any more of my posts.

Just sayin', I love this signature. I'm going to take a break now, before I go look for more of your posts...

 

[Hatcher1997]

Chickens will drown if the humidity has been too high for the entire incubation period. They need the high humidity during hatch. All eggs are supposed to lose a certain amount of fluid during incubation, low temps or high humidity prior to lockdown prevent the optimum fluid loss, but if you've kept it at 99.5F and under 70% up until now, it should be okay.

Not right now, leave the temp at 99.5 and don't open it to prevent temp and humidity swings. You may have to vent some after it hatches because the humidity will increase, but unless it's fogging up the whole thing or over 85%, you should still be fine. (If the other one pips because it's a chicken, you can lower the temp to 99.0 if the humidity is really high to help mitigate it.) I lower my cabinet hatcher to 98.5-99.0 when I put them in lockdown, but that's from experience with my breeds and equipment, I can't give you an exact answer for yours.

(Never raise temp above 100 unless it's a breed-specific requirement. Temps above 101 for extended periods can kill an embryo or cause defects.)

Once it hatches, and that still could take 24-48 hours before it does, leave it in there so the other one can hatch. It can survive for around 72 hours on the absorbed yolk. A chick peeping and nudging the other eggs signals the other ones to hatch.

I looked up Muscovy and they can take up to 37 days, so there's a pretty good chance you've got at least one chicken there. If for some reason the other one is actually a Muscovy, you should be able to let this one hatch and remove it quickly after waiting to make sure the other one hasn't pipped, and keep on trucking until day 30 for the real lockdown. Again, I'm not versed on Muscovy, but other eggs can withstand a day or more of not rotating after they're far enough along in development, so you can put the rotator back in and go from there. The chick knocking the other egg around in an incubator that small will keep it from sticking anyway.

I've had chickens sneak eggs in duck nests more than once, it happens; so if you trust your source, give them a little grace and ask for a refund or replacement. If they're both chicken, I'd question your source a little more though.

Make sure the temp and humidity is stable and then go get your brooder set up for a chicken, make a soothing drink, and do something to keep you from hovering over that incubator. The longer you worry over it, the more likely you are to open it when you shouldn't. We've all done it. It's okay to check on it, but put your hands in your pockets.

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! So I set off thinking these were muscovys and I did my research and found dry hatching was best, so the humidity has only been around 48% sometimes even lower. And I was due to put them into lockdown and raise the temp on day 33/34. To my surprise I went to turn the eggs and one had pipped. So I panicked, quickly removed the turning plate, added the anti slip matt and added a tiny bit of water. In a panic not remembering the humidity would need to be risen so much more as it was around 44% at the time, so I then opened it again to fill the middle part. And it didn’t raise past 48% in 30 minutes so I added some wet sponges and it went upto 78%, since then it’s gone down to 75%. Chick is still bleeping and it’s just pipped another hole next to the current. Praying I don’t kill off the chick by drying it out with all the opening.