Shipped egg dilema, water in eggs???

[darbella]

I have a dilema regarding shipped eggs that I candled. When I got the eggs, I candled them before putting in the bator to see if any breaks or cracks were present. All looked great! So here is it day 23 and not a pip yet. These are naked necks and a larger egg than the bantams I usually try to hatch. Temp is on the higher end of 98 the last 3 days and humidity is fluxuating at 29-34. My question is that when I first candled the eggs on day one before setting, I noticed that there "appeared" to be a watery liquid swishing above the air cell. Not a lot, but definitelry there. I still set the egs and when I candled for the first time on day 10, I saw chicks moving for sure. I candled on day 19 and also saw moving chicks and some eggs still had the swishy water and some did not. Any ideas on what to do and how long should I wait. I have access to extremely fine dental drill bits and was thinking if there was a danger of the chicks drowning upon entering the air sack that perhaps I could drill in the top center of the eggs to allow the water to evaporate and add to the humidity? Then plug the hole with soft wax?? Any help or suggestions please!

 

[katharinad]

I've seen the water in my eggs too. Never bothered me. I would not drain it, because the inner membrane needs to stay moist or it will shrink wrap the chick. Some people hatch their eggs in egg cartons so the air sack is up. This is supposed to help with drowning. I've done this with quail eggs, but I don't think it will make much of a different.
Katharina

 

[aussieheelr]

Day 23 and nothing. I would bet that they're gone. Sorry.
How long has your humidity been that low? Most people lockdown and hatch at least 60%, at 29-34% I'd bet they got shrink wrapped and can't move in the membrane. I sure hope I'm wrong.

 

[pdsavage]

I usally wait till day 25,then carefully open them after that....

 

[darbella]

Quote:
No, they are still moving. Had my husband candle when he got home a little bit ago. There still seems to be a lot of veining in them too. Forgot to mention that before. I wonder if I wrote the wrong date on them. I thought for sure it was the 23rd....

 

[Katy]

What kind of incubator are you using? Still air or with a fan? You say the temp has been at the high end of 98, which is not high enough for either type of incubator. Forced air with a fan needs to be 99/100 while a still air needs to be 101/102. If you see "sloshing water" in the eggs it sound like the air cells were ruptered during shipping. If the temp is too low it can delay your hatch.

 

[rancher hicks]

I just made copies of the article in Practical Poultry on hatching.
Now I know everyone has their own opinion of the what's and howto's. I always suggest you pick a system and go with that. Find what works for you.
Anyhow this is the basics of this article concerning humidity.

"35% , which is actually more or less the same as what you typically find in the domestic environment under normal conditions."
"relative humidity will need to be increased towards the end of the incubation period. My advice is to step it up to 55% on day 16, then up again to 65% on day 19. It should then be kept at this level until the chicks hatch. To increase humidity simply add warm water (methods vary according to your incubator design, so consult the instructions). Don't use hot or cold wateras this will have a detrimental affect on the internal temperature."

I keep a bottle of water next to the incu so it's room temp. Adding it with an eyedropper to help maintain the desired level. I have a Genesis 1588. My last hatch with my eggs was, 20/23. One egg from each of the three breeds in the incu did not hatch. I was conducting an experiment with half the eggs stored pointy side up or pointy side down. I also tried the egg carton lock down method. The three eggs that didn't hatch were stored pointy side up. Chicks seemed to zip all the way around, but struggled to get out. I think because I didn't cut the egg carton low enough for them to fall over after zipping around. Best hatch out of 5.

OP, since you are not sure of the hatch date I would wait and you should not open the incu after lockdown. Be sure to mark you calender for your next hatch.
I also would advise you to check out any books you can from your public library and read about incubation. Reread your incu's instructions and follow them as closely to the letter as you can.
I may be able to fax the article to those who have a fax. 4 pages. PM's only. Unless I'll go to jail.

Hope things work out
Rancher

 

[darbella]

well, when I came home today I have a pip, so I quickly candled the other eggs and each one has a moving chick inside, with the exception of 2 eggs out of the dozen. If a temp is 98.8, that is not far from 99 and I read on these boards someplace that temp should be at 98. something for hatching so the drop did not alarm me. I will be curious by morning to see what happens. I will never understand the concept of the hatch! My outdoor flock of 3 hens laid eggs all winter, those eggs were frozen and thawed many times over and I know there were only 18 eggs in the coop and I was too lazy to take them out because I froze my but off just opening the door to let them out in the morning and would run back in the house. So when one of the hens went broody in late March it suprised me, but I was even further suprised one day when I opened the coop door to see a half shell that was bloody. I thought they ahd resorted to eating the eggs so attempted to move her off the pile to take them out. She would not budge! Then 2 days later, with frost on the morning grass, I opened the door and out she came with 6 teeny chicks marching along with her! I removed the reamining eggs that had not hacthed and there were 12 eggs left and 6 hatched eggs! So maybe we frett too much at temp and humidity at times and what is meant to be will happen. I know that when I am expecting nothing to hatch because of all the problems I seem to have with bators, temp spikes/drops and humidity...poof....there is a chick, and another, and another. So my motto from now on is to set them and forget them! LOL

 

[darbella]

Update:
As of this morning I have one chick, appears to be a splash (naked Neck) I cannot wait to see if it frizzles! The shell was quite thick so I am wondering if there will be a problem because whe this one pipped, the shell had cracked as opposed to popping off a small piece with a hole in the membrane.

 

[rancher hicks]

No there is no problem just wait and let it hatch.