First question-I have a Silkie egg with an external pip at the wrong end. Can it hatch?
My incubator is running at 99.4 to 99.7. Out of curiosity, I used a meat thermometer to check it yesterday and it read 101.3. I set the eggs on 3/18, so if I don't count the first day, they'd be due to hatch on the 8th, right? Last batch hatched exactly 21 days from the day I set them, so if that happens this time, it would be the 7th. I have 2 Silkies pipped this morning. I did have 2 or 3 days this past week that were very hot and humid and the temp and humidity went up in the incubator. I had to run my ceiling fan to get the temp down. I can't tell you what the humidity is because it has an acceptable range for incubating and for hatching. It doesn't give percentage. Should I turn the heat down for the next hatch?
First thing I would do is calibrate. .. compare several thermometers to verify accuracy. Having temps temporarily do a little low won't do as much harm as too high. But if you are getting pips and not hatches I would worry about humidity. I keep my humidity at 40% for the first 18 days and 64% for hatch. I am personal to anal to not know my exact humidity all the time so I would get something to monitor that... especially if you suspect it is not high enough during lockdown.
As far as number of days. .. so many factors affect this. The temperature the eggs were stored at, how often they were turned during storage, how many days old they were prior to setting, and how long a hen say on them before they were collected. I have had entire hatches go 20 days, then 2 hatches later I get one that goes 22 days. I track this carefully because I hatch every 5 days, so delayed hatches can really present a problem in the tiny incubator I use for lockdown since I am putting new eggs in it every 5 days.
As a side note... Some folks have a lot of success using the same humidity the entire time. .. averaging 52-55% for the duration. That has never worked well for me so I use Styrofoam still airs for setting but lockdown is in a small bator that holds humidity better. The environment where the bator is can effect this so much too, so once you find the right combination it should be easily repeatable... But sometimes it takes a little trial and error.
Oh. .. And. .. a pip at the wrong end? I'd probably help it. I rarely help but in that case it will be hard for that chick if you don't. But. .. If it's the first to pip i'd wait because you don't want to open your bator when the others are so close to hatch and have a drastic drop in humidity
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