They're hatching now, few last minute questions!!

[Clearly]

First time incubating own eggs, few questions for you guys with experience in this zero hour time so I can stop wring my hands!

Info:
Brinsea octagon 20 with auto turner (hasn't been on turner though since lockdown, ofc)
12 Araucana eggs alive as of candling on lockdown, March 18th at 7:00pm
3 have externally pipped
Lots of chirping

Questions:
1) It is currently exactly day 20 (eggs were set at about 1pm). Is this external shell pipping early?
2) I cannot seem to bring my humidity down. Vent is fully open and humidity is 73%! Do I panic?
3) As chicks hatch, humidity would logically rise. Do I panic even more?
4) In your experience, how long from shell pip to zip, then how long until it kicks free? (Estimate/average)


Thanks for responses in advance, as always. I'm sitting by them watching tv, and likely won't get a wink of sleep the next 48 hours!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

First time incubating own eggs, few questions for you guys with experience in this zero hour time so I can stop wring my hands!

Info:
Brinsea octagon 20 with auto turner (hasn't been on turner though since lockdown, ofc)
12 Araucana eggs alive as of candling on lockdown, March 18th at 7:00pm
3 have externally pipped
Lots of chirping

Questions:
1) It is currently exactly day 20 (eggs were set at about 1pm). Is this external shell pipping early?
2) I cannot seem to bring my humidity down. Vent is fully open and humidity is 73%! Do I panic?
3) As chicks hatch, humidity would logically rise. Do I panic even more?
4) In your experience, how long from shell pip to zip, then how long until it kicks free? (Estimate/average)


Thanks for responses in advance, as always. I'm sitting by them watching tv, and likely won't get a wink of sleep the next 48 hours!

LOL. No need to panic with anything. No it's not too early, no 73% isn't too high (I shoot for 75%) Yes, it will rise a bit as they hatch, no there's still no need to panic and my last hatch I would say the average between pip and zip was 12-18 hours. I had a couple go earlier and a couple go longer. He/she will be trying to push out while it's zipping so once it has enough zipped, it will kick itself free.

My last hatch over half of the chicks pipped late day 19 with most hatching out the day 20 and finishing on day 21. Congrats on the pippers. Hope you have lots of lil ones soon!

 

[Clearly]

e

Thank you for the response! I've been stressing over the humidity, scared I'm going to drown them, but I knew I couldn't open it. Ohhh, the pressure!!!

These cheeps are so exciting; each one sends my head popping up to see if my partner heard it too, even when he's not in the room!!!!

Thanks for the reassurance!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you for the response! I've been stressing over the humidity, scared I'm going to drown them, but I knew I couldn't open it. Ohhh, the pressure!!!

These cheeps are so exciting; each one sends my head popping up to see if my partner heard it too, even when he's not in the room!!!!

Thanks for the reassurance!

"Drowning the chicks" happens when the humidity has been too high during the incubation and the egg has not left enough moisture causeing the air cells to be too small and the egg to retain the moisture. As long as the eggs have lost enough moisture during the incubation period, higher humidity at hatch isn't going to drown them.

 

[Clearly]

WELCOME TO THE WORLD!!! Two out within seconds of each other. Man, once they started zipping, they ZIPPED!!!

 

[DanEP]

I have the same bator as you do and day 20 is the norm for me so don't worry about that. As far as the humidity goes your fine, I watch it for the first 18 days then at lock down I fill the second channel and pull the hygrometer out and don't worry about it. I have hatched enough that I know the humidity will go up enough to be OK by filling the second channel. The Eco is kind of small so I pull the hygrometer to give them more room.
If your temp runs a little high like mine most of your hatch will happen late on day 20 or early day 21 but I don't give up on the stragglers till after day 22. As far as time between pip and zip anywhere from 1 hour to 24 hours. I think there are a couple of factors here, some chicks seem to just be more vigorous than others and I think some eggs have thicker shells than others which requires more work to break out of so it tires the chicks out so they need to rest from time to time. It seems like your doing everything right so just be patient and enjoy the hatch.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

WELCOME TO THE WORLD!!! Two out within seconds of each other. Man, once they started zipping, they ZIPPED!!!

Yay!!! Congrats on the cuties!