Should I Be Worried? (Serama eggs)

[nickkaylee]

So he took all the water out of the smaller side, and it didn't really go down at all. So now I have told him to take the water out if the larger area and put some back in the smaller area. What do I do if this doesn't work? If I take all of the water out it will go back down to the 50s...

 

[Tonyroo]

My serama eggs last year hatched on day 19, 20, and 21. These were shipped eggs from Florida, I live in California.

If you can keep an eye on your humidity levels, that would make a difference, maintain 65 to 70%. Even if you have to make adjustments to get it there. Use a hygrometer inside the incubator if you have one.

 

[NatJ]

When you candle the eggs, you can check the size of the air cell.
That can tell whether the humidity has been about right all along, or too high or low.
(It's a way to double check what has been happening, and learn for the future.)

Here's an older thread with a sketch of how large the air cell should be at each point in incubation:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...cell-growth-do-i-still-have-a-chance.1282569/

For most of incubation, the egg needs to lose water at a certain rate. You need the right humidity to make that happen.

For actual hatching, you need a high enough humidity that the chicks can hatch without the membranes drying out. This is typically a higher amount than the during-incubation number.

(I notice at least two different humidity recommendations within this thread, so I'm not going to give any numbers to confuse the matter further.)

 

[nickkaylee]

So I guess I can't candle them after all.

 

[NatJ]

So I guess I can't candle them after all.

A pipped egg!

 

[nickkaylee]

Yes. Its been about 3 hours now, nd that is as far as it has gotten. It is the only one so far out of 11 eggs. I was able to candle a couple of the eggs from the outside to see their air cells. They look decent size! But I couldn't tell if any were moving.

 

[nickkaylee]

Just woke up, and there is another egg pipped (so 2 out of 11). The first one still has not changed in 9 hours.

 

[nickkaylee]

Whatever your hygrometer is reading is most likely inaccurate, so don't trust it, & remove half the water.

I put another hygrometer in there, and it is accurate.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I put another hygrometer in there, and it is accurate.

Did you calibrate it with the salt test before adding it?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I attempted to hatch Serama eggs once. They all died early on within days 7-9. This was along time ago, when my sister wanted Seramas.