Quick question

[yelkenli]

A third came out - with dark coloring. Probably around 9-10am, which puts it about 3-4 hours behind #2. It looks fairly dry already, and seems healthy.

No movement in the other 3 eggs. One had definite movement yesterday and was the most active the night before that. We are getting towards the end of day 21.
Should I look for cracks on the others, or candle them?

 

[Hillaire]

As said No food or water in the incubator is needed.

I just wanted to clarify this----Chicks can stay in the incubator for 3 days With No Problem at all, but as far as survive----they can survive days in the incubator without food or water---but after 3 days they start getting hungry and thirsty so staying in there longer than 3 days will start effect them some. I found one in the bottom of my cabinet incubator 11 days after it hatched(long story)---still alive, but hungry and thirsty and noticeable smaller than its siblings .

omg 11 days... jeesh I bet that was a big surprise lol.

 

[PD-Riverman]

omg 11 days... jeesh I bet that was a big surprise lol.

See I set/hatched every week---each of the 3 shelf's in this cabinet incubator holds 96 eggs. It was day 12 on the top shelf and a few in a tray on the next shelf. I needed some extra room so I candled all the 12 day old eggs---and had 97 good. So I put 96 of them all on the top shelf and the 1 left over I put in the rack on the middle shelf and set 95 more eggs on the middle shelf-----guess you can already see where this is going---yep 6 days later I pulled the 96 off the top shelf and put in the hatcher--all 96 were the last of the black jersey giants----I had sold the breeders. Well they hatched and I put them in the brooder in the same room. Sure when I walked into that room at times I could hear a chick---but there was about 100 in a brooder in this small room.

11 days after these hatched I moved them into another building dividing them into two brooders. I went back into the room a little later and I could hear a chick---I looked into the brooder---nothing---I knew there was none in the incubator due to hatch---but I opened the door on the incubator and listened---the chick had gotten quiet and as I was about to close the door I heard it inside the incubator---Got on my knee's and way in the back was a chick. I got it out and it was a black jersey giant---I started looking at the trays---I could see on the back of the middle shelf there was a hatched egg shell---I pulled it out and it was marked to hatch 11 days earlier. Then I remembered sticking it there. I put the chick in the brooder with some of its siblings---it looked like a bantam compared to them---LOL---pour thing was wanting some water and food. I took them all out that brooder 2 weeks later and I could not tell which one it was---It had growed/caught up with the rest.

 

[yelkenli]

Day 21&1/2
Three out and they are active.

Two of the other eggs have breaks in the shells, and we can see them moving. Is there a point at which we should help them or take any action?

One egg shows no activity, no breaks.

 

[yelkenli]

We notice that the first out chicks are pecking at one still in the shell. they are pecking at the beak that is poking out - not the shell (not helping in other words.

Any issue with this? segregate them somehow?

 

[yelkenli]

Fourth one is out, about 22 hours after first. Has some egg shell on neck. Any issue with this?
Behavior similar to the others. Others are very active.

One remaining egg showing good signs.
Other remaining egg not showing anything.

 

[yelkenli]

5th came out around 11pm. Very small, not healthy looking. Had a sack attached to behind, and was trailing blood.
In morning though, the chick looks better. Is moving around. Still small but maybe part of that is growth by first-outs.
One egg remains. Candling shows no activity. Will give it another day.

 

[Erka97]

You might want to crack into the air cell on that last one, take a look at what's going on in there. It may have died, or it might be alright still, but it might also be stuck. One of my chickens, "Sponge", was stuck in her egg. She was one of the last eggs with no cracks, so I made a hole above the air cell to have a look. I saw no beak and the blood vessels in there looked very dark -meaning low oxygen. I ended up opening up the egg more and finding her beak so she could breathe, then laying her on a sponge [closest soft, solid object, and now the reason for her name] to rest and absorb her yolk.. She was pretty weak for a few days, and noticeably smaller than the others for months, but she lived and caught up to them eventually.
I also had a chick die just this morning because it got stuck during the night. I helped it out in the morning, but by that time the damage was done and it died a while later.

 

[yelkenli]

I cracked open the egg at the air pocket. It looks like it made it to a late stage then something happened. No movement. Even at day 20 and 21, we did not notice movement in this egg.

Thoughts for the benefit of the next incubation?

 

[Pyxis]

Looks like there's a lot of liquid in there, so that one may not have lost enough moisture and drowned. If the rest did fine, it was probably because that one egg had a thicker shell or something like that that kept it from losing moisture at the same rate as the others.