Trouble! Help! + humidity ?

[plumcreek]

Two things are going on with my current eggs and I am not sure what todo about it!


First, I set my hatch date in my phone with an alarm....then I lost it!. I can't remember for the life of me when these were set! It must be over 14 days... but how much over...not sure. I am guessing they are 14-15 days though...

Secondly, though my house has central AC and is usually between 68-74 degrees and I check the incubator often and see that it is always between 99.5 and 100.5 my thermometor has a min/max history button. I remember clearing it when I set it up and when I hit min/max the other day it said 107.5 max! I have no idea how that would have happened. I have a little giant and I really check often (and I work from home right next to it all day) and it is never far off. Could it have just gone nuts and gotten that hot?

So, how do I know that these eggs of unknown age are still alive? When I candle they are mostly dark inside now with air pockets in the right spot..but I am just using a small led flashlight I have and it isn't great. I can make out only a small bit of open space at the bottom and don't see movement but can't really see well at all. I don't see any rings or that sort of thing.

So, I don't know how long to give these possibly dead eggs! I have other good eggs in with them and would really prefer this doesn't end with a smelly explosion!

Write your date on the eggs! So, how do I know they are living or not? And... is my incubator just too old and something is making the temp spike occasionally?

 

[nivtup]

My guess is that they are fine.

I would not expect any explosions without a bit of warning.

If you candle them this far along, it is hard to see any real movement. I would look for viable blood vessels near the air cell. If they have died, the blood vessels degrade fairly rapidly.

Good luck,

I bet they hatch!!

 

[nurse_turtle]

The very best flashlight for candling, for me, has been the tiny MagLite made to go on a keychain. I place the light right up to the air cell and can usually see how much room is left. If you don't have too awfully many eggs, you could candle them daily and look for internal pip. If one of them shows internal pip, I would place them in lockdown. I do staggered hatches often using 2 hovabators and have had occasion to forget to document the set date. As soon as I saw the first internal pip, they went on lockdown.

As far the possible temperature spike, I think it comes with the LG. I had a terrible experience with one and sold it immediately. It takes the eggs hours to reach the temperature of the air inside the incubator. You may not see movement this far along and you may not be able to see vessels, so don't worry about that.

 

[plumcreek]

Thanks!
When they pip internally...wouldn't they already need to be in lockdown? I could just guess when but then they could end up not turning for days...So, 'i should look for them breaking into the air sac?

I can see blood vessels clearly still but not movement.

 

[Arielle]

YOu may find some very helpful hints in Pete55's thread. As I remember he increases the Rh at internal pip.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/491013/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed


I had a hatch in which I had taken eggs from a broody hen. At the original hatch date the chicks started hatching. BUt I had noticed weeks before extra eggs were layed by her flockmates after the initail set date ( the eggs I gave her). Anyway, I took all the remainng eggs and put them in the LG.for a while, then to the homemade incubator. THey kept hatching like pipcorn, 1-2 a day. Keeping the RH right was a joke. Took about 10 days to finish that hatch!! LOL I guess my point is, if can hatch them just fine even if you don't know the exact set day. Hope this gives you some encouragement.

 

[plumcreek]

Thanks to everyone that replied...

So, I am now at that troubling time when I don't know if I should be in lockdown. My guess puts today at day 18.

So... how bad is it to tun them during that time? Is it worse to turn too long or not to turn..

Also, about humidity. The humidity here (in the world not the incubator) is 78% today and we have the windows and doors open... I can't imagine that I would loose humidity by opening the incubator...if anything it should gain. Am I thinking about that incorrectly somewhow? Are there reasons behind lockdown other than humidity?