This is going to turn out badly, isn't it? [Egg hatching]

[007Sean]

Probably just bumped the table or the bator itself and didn't realize you did....I do that occasionally with mine. When that happens I stand back away from the bator but can still see through the viewing windows and "sure nuff" they didn't move.

 

[Pandapop]

Yeah, I guess that's possible. I thought I was pretty sure I hadn't bumped anything though, I was sitting perfectly still and watching when the second one jolted. But you're right, it must have been something like that. The embryos inside shouldn't be able to move around that much at this stage.

 

[Fishkeeper]

You could try and candle them and make sure they aren't somehow much further along than you think, but no, the embryos at this stage shouldn't be able to do that. They move, but they're tiny.

 

[Pandapop]

Since yesterday, there's been more movement from the eggs. Even my boyfriend has begun to notice it (he's actually the one that let me know this time). We'll sit very still and watch, and sure enough, one or two of the eggs move just ever so slightly.

Last night I candled a few of the eggs again, and I can even see the little embryo inside twisting around. As of today they're about 7-8 days away from their hatch date.

 

[Pandapop]

This morning, my incubator went on lockdown. I filled the water troughs like I was told, but now the humidity is too high (nearing 70% and possibly growing).

Is it safe to crack the incubator open just a tiny bit to let out some of that humidity? I've been having to do this throughout the whole incubation process and things seemed to be going okay, but is it dangerous to do while under lockdown?

 

[Erkenstein]

I have the same incubator as you do. If you want to reduce the humidity, pull out the two red plugs from the top. I run the incubator before lockdown with the #1 channel in the reservoir filled, one plug in, and one plug upside down and covering half the hole. In my area, that keeps humidity at 40% during turning.

At lockdown, I also fill the #2 channel, add a wet sponge to the wire, but pull out one of the plugs entirely. That gives me 50% humidity and good ventilation for the hatch. This works very well for me.

You can also open the bator quickly if you want to vent out excess humidity without hurting anything.

 

[Pandapop]

Both of the red plugs have been pulled out (I actually don't know what happened to them, hopefully I didn't lose them, ahck). Having the incubator cracked at about 4mm helped reduce the humidity from 70% to 60%, and the temperature from 101.4°F to 100.2°F.

I guess I just wanted to know if that was safe enough to do. It's too late to open it up and drain some of the water I have in there, I just have to wait until it evaporates...

 

[Erkenstein]

You're not going to hurt anything by opening the incubator at this point. However, by the time they start pipping and hatching you want to have everything under control since opening too much can chill hatchlings or shrinkwrap chicks that have pipped. Definitely do not try to drain any water out.

With my incubator, I find that during incubation I need to gradually turn down the thermostat to maintain the right temp as the eggs produce metabolic heat. You should be able to get to the right temp if you turn it down a smidge, leave it alone for a couple of hours, then repeat. The same for adding water: add to one trough, come back in a bit, and see if you need to fill another trough as well.

Rather than opening up the bator to add water, I also use a big syringe fitted with a piece of aquarium tubing and insert the tube through one of the vent holes to put water into the trough. And the water I add is approximately the temp of the incubator to avoid swings.

 

[Pandapop]

Thank you for your reply, I'll keep all of this in mind. Hopefully I didn't mess things up, and I'll get some successful hatches in a couple of days...

 

[Pandapop]

Today is the official hatching day of the first batch of eggs, tomorrow the second batch. I keep eyeballing my incubator, thinking I'll see some movement. My hopes aren't very high... in fact I'll be extremely surprised if something actually hatches. I know they can take another day or two to start up, but still...