Last night was day 20 and there are still no pips, no noise that I can hear, the eggs aren't moving....There are 10 eggs in there, 4 of which I thought looked dead at the last candling, but still, the other 6 aren't doing anything!!!! The humidity was a bit too high, but would that kill all of them?? I'm so worrried and disappointed. UPDATE: I was just checking and still no pips but someone was very plaintively chirping in there ! I brought in one of the cochin chicks from the brooder and let it sit on top of the incubator and chirp--hoping to encourage the chicks in there to try and hatch. Well, if the humidity was too high, wouldn't the chick have gotten a mouthful of water when it got into the aircell? But if it's chirping. doesn't that mean it has to have air and not a mouthful of water?? The wells in there look almost empty, but there's still condensation on the windows...So do I add more water or no?? Please reply!
How high was your humidity and for how long? It's possible that the embryos drowned, but not necessarily. How were your temps during the entire incubation? If they were slightly low for long enough, your eggs may just be a little late to hatch. Don't worry about not hearing peeping or seeing movement, etc. In several of my hatches I never heard or saw anything, but had great hatches, so I doesn't necessarily mean anything. I know hatching can be very nerve wracking, but try to just leave your eggs alone and let them do their thing. Most importantly, if this hatch doesn't go well, learn from it and try again!!!! I hope you have some pips soon!! Lori
Quote:The humidity has been pretty high--water droplets on the windows. I don't have a hygrometer. The temp has been pretty consistant-- 99.7 most of the incubation period, dropping to 98.6 the last couple of days and coming back up to 98.8 or 99 day before yesterday.
Turn down the humidity, open up more vents. When my humidity gets around 75-80% I noticed condesation on the windows.
Your humidity does sound too high, but since you can hear peeping you obviously didn't drown all of them!!!!! Is there any way you can derease your humidity without keeping your bator open for too long? Maybe you could prop the top open just a little bit???? That's awesome that you can hear peeping!!! Very exciting!! Of course, you're clucking back to them to encourage them to hatch, right?? Keep us updated!! Lori
High humidity can make several things go wrong between hatch and early days in the brooder. I would open a vent plug if you still see droplets on the window. High humidity can make the chick drown as soon as it internally pips. It can also interefere with absorption of yolk, making them unable to hatch or hatch with open tummies. It can also cause what is known as "mushy" chicks. They die either on the incubator floor from being too wet and soft bodied..or they die shortly after being put in the brooder (within the first few days and often have an odor). Not to scare you, but humidity is an important factor and I highly recommend getting a hygrometer for your next hatch. It is very comforting to know they are peeping and we can only hope they hatch successfully. Good luck to you and your peeps. Jody
When I went to bed last night this egg was no where near hatching, and when I got up a few minutes ago to check, it had zipped but I thought it would be another couple hours, so I climbed back into bed and heard some rattling in the 'baotr....Wouldn't you know it, it hatched while I wasn't looking! It has a little bit of a bloody navel, but it's not like bleeding, it's just pink. YAY!!!! I'm so excited!! PS- Also while I was asleep, three faverolle eggs pipped, and when this little chick hatched and started scooting around the incubator and peeping, someone is chirping back to it!!!
Well, a total of four chicks have hatched now, and I think that's all that will hatch b/c none of the other eggs are pipped, moving or chirping. Three hatched on their own, but I helped one little guy who had been trying all day and wasn't making much progress....I'm not sure if he'll live...His navel looks a tad bloody, and he has deformed feet.