Serma eggs Incubation

[yuaan]

Hello all ,

I have placed 13 serama eggs in my incubator and after 4 days one had dead ring and other was empty so i am not left with 12 . Today is their 12th day and upon candelling them all of them have movements in them but some of them are very slower moving and some of them are fast moving. The air sacs are expending but not as they should do but I could be wrong.Humidity is between 35 to 45% as i had bad experience with my first incubation where i dry hatched them with 35% humidity , although i had 100% success but 6 out of 9 needed help in order to take them out as they were miss positioned. I need advise please on following :

1) Is it fine for some chicks to move faster than other or slower than others ?
2) air sacs are expending but not as it should , could it be that the eggs had poops on them were very dirty ?
3) is humidity between 35 to 45% ok?
4) can poop on the air sac side stop moisture to come out of the egg?

your replies will be much appreciated

Many Thanks

 

[gimmie birdies]

good questions. if today is 12 you still have time to correct your eggs if they are too moist. if they are not shrinking down as much as you like this is a problem, because if you do traditional lock down the chicks may drown. I would use less water, and candle at day 16, you should have an good air cell, and candle the pointy part of the egg. it should be dark. if not the clear you see is too much fluid, either expect that egg to hatch late, or not at all.

I have a home made incubator, I dry hatch and they come our just fine.


My opinion, is people get too obsessed with "lock down". yes do stop turning on day 18. I only ad a bit of moist paper towel at pip.

 

[yuaan]

Thanks Gimmie ,

Today was day 13 and upon candeling the eggs one of the egg was dead so i cracked opened it and yes he had stopped growing , the other eggs air sacs are looking good today , I never put any water in the well. today the humidity had stayed 35% .. do you have any pic of you candelling the eggs which i could see how the air sac should look like at day 13 .
BTW i love you little home made incubator .

 

[gimmie birdies]

thanks, I don't have pics of day 13 but egg should be almost all the way dark. I mark the air cell when I place my eggs, (w/pencil) and mark each week, then on the 18th as well. there are charts out there to tell you where you should be.most important is to just let your eggs hatch. day 18 stop turning most likely nothing will happen. day 19 you may hear a peep or see an egg wiggle- this doesn't mean they are getting ready to hatch. even when you see a hole in the egg, the may do nothing for the first 24 hrs after poking a hole. if it pokes the wrong end it is still not ready to hatch- here is why... wrong end poked means chick is far away from air cell it meant to poke and breathe 24 hrs, before poking hole and breathing/resting another 24 hrs before hatch. plus they are absorbing the yolk still. when people "help" the chick they may be helping it to hatch too soon. That is why chicks have that weird belly button thing. the chick should not look like that. If you are ever tempted to help, look up pictures of baby chick's belly buttons that will make you sit on your hands.

waiting can be murder too.. I know! but I suggest doing what you are doing, asking questions, read as much as you can. check out (I like this), "stages in chick embryo development- msu cares" It is nice to know what goes on in the egg every day while you wait.

 

[yuaan]

Today 14 has finished and 15th day started . Upon candellng the eggs the air sac is fairy large but not the half of the egg. i barely can see movement as the 80% of the egg is dark and sometime i see shadow flickering . i think all of the eggs are fine so far but worried about air sac . humidity is 32%