Please help with some questions if you can!

[eekbullet]

Hi, I hope you can help with a question. I have 7 eggs in an incubator, 2 are duds, not sure when to remove them? Also the five that are alive, from candling them I can see them move etc are on day 18 tomorrow, and since they are in my classroom I need to bring them home for the weekend, just in case I have some early hatchers! How long can they be outside the incubator? I am going to be very careful for the car ride home, but often traffic can result in a longer ride than I would like. I feel like I can keep them pretty warm but am so worried that by taking them out that I will somehow harm them! Any info you can provide would be helpful. Also any tips on how to tell when they are going to hatch? My kids are so excited and I am I think even more excited about it. Thank you!
Aimee

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Welcome to BYC!

From my understanding, the egg should not be out of the incubator longer then 20 minutes at a time. You can remove the duds at anytime. I would recommend removing the duds before you put your eggs in lockdown. As far as telling when they will hatch, there are several signs to look for:
-Rocking Eggs or Rolling Eggs
-Chirping from inside the egg.
-A crack in the egg (this would be called a pip).

Good Luck with your hatch!

Feel free to ask questions anytime; that's what this forum is here for!

 

[eekbullet]

Frantically searching the message boards LOL what does Lockdown entail? I am afraid my ride home will take at least 1 hour...ack the stress

 

[Farmin Momma]

Well I have never had to have any eggs out of the incubator for very long, but maybe if you use a cooler of some sort and put bottles of hot water in the cooler to keep them warm. With the eggs in an egg carton and also put some wet towels in there to try and keep the humitity up. That might help. I hope if someone has any better ideas they come and chime in too!

Have my fingers crossed for you

!

 

[SIMZ]

Hi there! I hate to be discouraging, but that seems like a bad time to try to move them. I took eggs back and forth to a class for candling but it was about a week before they were due to hatch.

The way I took them was in a shipping styrofoam cooler with a heating pad in the bottom. I put a thick towel layer in it and placed the eggs inside and covered them with the towel. Keep the temperature monitored so it's at the right temp. If you have it warm enough before you leave and can get them right back into the incubator they should be ok........EXCEPT the fact that they're so close to hatching may be a problem with jostling and moving.

Chicks can actually stay in the incubator for a day or two after hatching and be fine. It might be worth considering if it would be possible to leave them instead of trying to move them when they're positioning themselves to hatch. tough call if it's even possible for you.

Good luck and let us know how it goes! It's so fun to hatch with kids, isn't it?

 

[eekbullet]

Ok I thinking will keep them at school this weekend and not take a chance.
The risk isn't worth it and I will see if they will lets into school to
Check on them. Ty so much everyone! I guess I am locking down
Tomorrow. L

 

[SIMZ]

I hope they let you in to check them! I can totally understand your anxiety over it! That's just a tough call either way -- risk the move or risk leaving them!

 

[eekbullet]

Got to go into the school this morning to check, nothing is happening. They arent moving or anything, my water was almost gone though and I am worried that the humity isnt high enough but I added in lots of water and will do so first thing in the am as well. Tomorrow is day 21, I am hoping something starts to happen! When do I worry? Oh heck, I am already worried But should I candle them again? Leave them alone? Mist with water? ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK This is nerve racking!
Aimee

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

Got to go into the school this morning to check, nothing is happening. They arent moving or anything, my water was almost gone though and I am worried that the humity isnt high enough but I added in lots of water and will do so first thing in the am as well. Tomorrow is day 21, I am hoping something starts to happen! When do I worry? Oh heck, I am already worried But should I candle them again? Leave them alone? Mist with water? ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK This is nerve racking!
Aimee

They are not late yet, I wouldn't worry until day 24.

 

[eekbullet]

Ok...I will keep up the moisture...oh the waiting is so hard! My class is 4 and 5 year olds and I am pretty sure that they believe that they will hatch tomorrow, even though I have told them that it could take longer. We have studied the life cycle and they know how long it is supposed to take, we have done a count down, we have talked about all the things that could happen but I have this feeling that there will be a crowd watching the "big screen" for action tomorrow! Their teacher included!
When I candled them Thursday 2 were duds and taken out, leaving 5, out of the 5 one I couldnt see moving around but filled most of the egg so not sure on that guy yet. The others I could see their beeks and movement in them.