Such high hopes.

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

Hi my name is Gayle from Kalkaska, Michigan (north western). This is my first post, please bear with me. I won a bid on ebay for 12+ silkie eggs, when they arrived there was a total of 15. I let them sit out for 6 hours then put them in the incubator. I am borrowing a Hoverbator w/ circulating air fan. Fast forward 21days. We had a chick pip on day 21 and was still working at it on day 22 (yesterday). My humidity was 75% and I thought that was enough, but sometime after noon time, the poor think got dried out and was shrinkwrapped in his shell. I had 2 eggs left last night that were peeping and this morning only one is. We are on day 23 and I'm not sure that it will hatch. It has not pipped at all yet. I am heartbroken for the little guy that didn't make it and sad because I don't think the other one will too. I realize the first little guy didn't make it because the humidity was too low, so I filled all the wells and it is now at 80-85%, unfortunately, I think it drowned one of the ones still in it's shell. Has anyone had any late hatchers 23+ days. I could use a small bit of hope. Incubating is hard on the nerves and on the heart. I'm not sure I would do it again anytime soon.

 

[retiredwithchicks]

Yes, they can still hatch. People have posted as late as day 25 hatches. I know how hard it is but hang in there, maybe you'll get some soon. There are so many things that can go wrong in a hatch that we are lucky to get a 50% hatch when we are inexperienced. The last hatch I actually got 66% and felt very blessed. Also, after pipping it may take 24 more hours to zip so maybe they will still hatch. Did you drip some water over the shrink wrapped one to see if you could moisten it up to break open?

 

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

I did, I followed the instructions from another person who posted, but it was too late.

I still have the bator on, as long as I hear peeping or pecking, i'll keep at it.

 

[retiredwithchicks]

If you are still hearing sounds, there will be babies to play with!!! Good luck and welcome to BYC. It is addictive and soooo much fun.

 

[Barred Rocker]

I lost a few like that too in my last 2 hatches. I wound up helping one out on the second hatch and he did find making it out the rest of the way and I tried again with another and he didn't

. After that I was determined not to interfere but on my last hatch I had one pip sometime during the night and 12 hours later he made no further progress. I researched here and found a thread on when to help the little fella's out, so I bit the bullet and went ahead and went to work . I had to do it all for the little chick, he was so weak I didn't think he'd make it but an hour later he was peeping like crazy and bouncing all over the incubator, I think the reason was that he was too big for the small shell he was in and couldn't turn to zip the shell. It's a tough call to do something like that but I can't stand it if I thing they made it all the way to hatch day only to lose the battle in the last few hours.

Here's a link to that just in case you feel brave:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9316

 

[Lil_Miss_Farmer_Chick]

Just an update. The last one died in it's shell today. No more cheeping or movement. I didn't have the heart to open the shells. The incubator started to smell. I took out the rest of the eggs and turned the bator off. I am devastated. I think if I were to do it again, I would have tried to help the ones in the shell that hadn't pipped yet but were still cheeping. Thank you all for your encouragement and support, it really means alot to me.