Progress has been made! Pics added of new babies!

[dolly85]

Last night while I was at work my sister was supposed to be baby sitting and keeping an eye on the eggs. Well, she let the temp get up to 103 and I was certain she killed my babies! So this morning I went to candle them to look for signs of life and an egg PEEPED at me! AHHHHHHHH!!! Its day 19, they shouldn't be hatching yet! Apparently the temp spike didn't hurt them much, but its been HOURS since the first peep and I'm just dying. It pipped a small whole in the egg around 9 am this morning with no progress yet. Its been 5 hours. OMG I'm just going crazy. I purposely set them to hatch on a weekend I work so I wouldn't be tempted to open up the incubator. This naughty chick who decided to hatch early is trying to wreak havoc on my good intentions!! How long does it normally take from pip to zip? When should I help? Its not peeping quite as much, is that because its sleeping? I just keep imagining it dieing inside that egg before it hatches. Please help!!! If nothing else, give me a list of things to do to keep my mind of this chick! My back seriously hurts from hunching over the incubator for so many hours watching and waiting. My kids are begining to think I'm insane, lol.

 

[Tanichca]

Ok calm down. Sometimes it can take as many as 24 hours before a chick will get out of the egg. And pipping on day 19 is actually normal! Hang out here on BYC for a while (an hour or so) and then check. DO NOT OPEN THE INCUBATOR WHATEVER YOU DO!!!!!

hope this helps you out!

 

[dolly85]

Quote:
I'm trying!

I shall spend a few hours reading past posts and doing yahoo searches on pipping chicks!

OH I can easily see how this becomes an addiction!

 

[dolly85]

So I was looking and talking to my eggs again and noticed that there were several more pips! 5/9 eggs have made little holes in their shells so far, but not a lot of cheeping yet. Maybe its because its hard to hear them through the egg and the incubator. No matter, I'm elated! I've decided to leave my house for a while and go to my moms. I really just can't take this waiting.

 

[Tanichca]

Quote:

good idea!
But you do realize that the entire time you're at your moms house you will be like

or

waiting for those fuzzbtts to hatch, right?

Sending good hatching vibes your way though!

 

[deerman]

DON'T worry untill day 21.....most do pip the day before..........

 

[justtoni44]

did you up yur humidity a lttle and lock down?
Never mind.you said you need to be busy to not open the bater..

As soon as I figure out how not to run look in the bater every 10 minutes..I 'll share the info
Good luck

 

[dolly85]

Yep, the bator is at 65% and the temp is 99.5F on one side and 100F on the other. There are currently FIVE PIPS!!!!!!! One of who is rocking and rolling all over the place. Oh its getting good now!

ETA That's 5 pips out of 9 eggs. These are my pullets first eggs and out of 10 I had 9 make it to lockdown. Being my first hatch this is just amazing. I seriously didn't think they would make it this far, it feels like I'm witnessing a little miracle!

 

[SarahIrl]

65% is a little high, keep an eye on them as they might be a bit sticky. You'll see this if they struggle to get out of the shell for hours and hours. It can take that long from starting to zip to out but I mean from when the top of the egg is off and the chick should be kicking free. DON'T PULL the chick out, just open the lid a little every 15 mins or so for a few seconds to let out some humidity and they'll dry out a little. Too much now is as bad as not enough. And honestly, I am NOT trying to scare the bits out of you!

 

[dolly85]

Quote:
Really? Everything I read on various sites said 60-65% for hatching. I've had to try very hard to keep it above 60%!