Talking to chirping chicks

[Nynaevei]

Hi everyone, first time mother clucker here! If I talk to the incubator or gently tap I get a few responses from the chicks. We are day 20, they are due tomorrow, and I thought I heard some chirping last night too. I’ve got some incredibly cheap incubator where I can’t see inside at all so no idea if there is pipping but no one has hatched yet. Does it wear them out if I talk to them and they talk back? How long after chirping does it take for them to hatch usually? They are quite stuffed in there I hope they are alright. A mix of black copper marans, olive eggers, and blue laced red Wyandottes. Pic from pre-incubation.

 

[Kiki]

You usually won't hear them make a peeping noise until they internally pip and crack the shell.
You can expect chicks 24 hours after you notice cracks in the shell.

Do you have at least one calibrated thermometer in your incubator?
What about a separately purchased humidity gauge that was salt tested?

 

[Mellowmalt]

The space looks fine but I am also wondering how you have been maintaining a high enough humidity during lockdown for them to hatch well.

 

[Nynaevei]

It

You usually won't hear them make a peeping noise until they internally pip and crack the shell.
You can expect chicks 24 hours after you notice cracks in the shell.

Do you have at least one calibrated thermometer in your incubator?
What about a separately purchased humidity gauge that was salt tested?

has its own thermometer that’s has been working fine and yes I have another gauge for humidity that alerts me in there!

 

[Nynaevei]

The space looks fine but I am also wondering how you have been maintaining a high enough humidity during lockdown for them to hatch well.

So that is not a picture of the incubator. Let me show you one of the incubator.

 

[Mellowmalt]

you can look inside with a torch on the right side of that incubator where the turning motor is.. Did you take the turner rollers out or leave them in? I'd be interested to see how you do with this incubator, I was too scared to use it as it was, I found the ventilation hole, the humidity tray and the fan were hard to work with. I think this incubator has potential to be fairly good, the main thing it was missing was a separating plate between the fan + heat and the rest of the incubator like the brinsea or nurture right incubator have. You can literally make this plate out of cardboard and cut a hole in the middle where the fan sits but it wasn't too bad as is. There are worse incubators out there than the one you have.
Without the plate and the sensor directly placed against the heat cable as it was delivered I found I had to set the incubator to 38.1 degrees C to maintain the right temperature of 37.5 where the eggs are. The manual said set it to 38 degrees.
Good luck tomorrow.

 

[Nynaevei]