Pls help - We are on Day 21

[dazeofadventure]

Tonight at 1130pm completed our 21 days. We have 10 Americana chicken eggs. I am a nervous wreck.
1) We were gone for a couple of hours this afternoon and came home to a foul smell. I have since narrowed it down to one egg. Should I remove it from the incubator??
2) At this point, we have had no sound. There has been no pip. (forgive me if my wording is incorrect - VERY new to this!)
3) I am almost embarrassed to admit this, but we did not go on LOCKDOWN. We still turned our eggs today.

Did I kill them?? Again, I am a nervous wreck over these eggs -

Thank you in advance for any help or guidance.
Jenn

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Its not Ideal but I dont think you killed them by turning to long. Yes, get the smelly egg out an then get the humidity up. I do think you should have had chirping by now but your thermometer may be off a little an make them hatch late. You still could have a good hatch.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Get that egg out asap!!!!

Then do as rebel cowboy said---increase humidity and wait!! Give them at least 3 days! I have read so many posts about how they were going to give up or did give up and presto there was a chick standing there.

I hope it all works out well for you. Also make sure you have non-slippery surface for them to stand on to prevent spraddle leg when they hatch.

I just went into lockdown tonight for my first hatch. I'm a newbie too (at hatching, not chickens) but I have read and read on here...gives me confidence to tell you to try it out and don't lose hope!!!

 

[Rozzie]

Definitely get the bad egg out! Do it quickly, though, before any of the eggs pip.

 

[dazeofadventure]

Thank y'all so much for being on here! I know this sounds crazy, but I smelled each of the eggs and only that one smells *bad* - I was told tonight by someone that the smell could be the shells starting to crack. ?? Is that true? Or should I just toss it for sure?

I am scared to death of *throwing away a chicken* -

And to increase humidity = I increase the water/sponges, etc. ??

I am so sorry for all of the questions - I am tired and frantic at the same time.
Not a good combo!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If you smelled it from out side the incubator then its bad an needs to go ASAP. If you had to stick it to your nose an still wasn't sure if it "smelled" then I wouldn't worry about it.

Make sure the water trays are full should do it being as you are in Florida. (assuming high outside humidity)

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Yes, if the egg smells rotten, then it is.

To increase humidity, you need more surface area with water- so if you have one water reservoir, simply filling it up won't increase the humidity. You would need to add a sponge, or another reservoir.

My incubator has two reservoirs. I just filled the other one to increase the humidity. If you only have one, then you could add sponges. I don't really want to give you advice on that since I am so new...and it is so important.

But not enough humidity at hatch can kill them.

 

[Charlie1st]

We are also on day 2 of Lockdown, this morning we heard chirping!!

Frantic is not the word, for the past 2 nights I have set my alarm for 1am & 4am, just so I can keep a check on the humidity!!

I need sleep.........

This is our first batch of 6 out of 12 eggs!

 

[dazeofadventure]

@Charlie1st - I can so relate! It is now 624am and I slept less that 3 hours. This is worse than having a newborn! ha!

Humidity is up - temp is stable.

Fingers crossed we will start to hear chirping today.


***VERY THANKFUL FOR THIS GROUP!