Unsure about when day 21 is, signs of pending hatch?

[thebulg]

I set the eggs from our hens on april 19, early evening. Probably around 6pm. I've been candling each night. Yes yes, i know i know, not good protocol. I've been washing my hands, and there are only 3 eggs.

We had veins on day 3 and from comparing with a bajillion candling photos from other sites, by day 7 (april 26) i was pretty sure the chicks were on day 8 of development. Once i made the switch and put them a day "ahead" pictures and descriptions seemed to line up pretty darn well.

My question is should i rely on the eggs or rely on the calendar? Should i go into lockdown tonight (day 18 by projected development) or tomorrow, which is day 18 by calendar? Are there times when eggs arent giving any "signs" (rocking, chirping, etc) and people lock down on day 19?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I had a somewhat similar situation in that I was letting my hens sit on some eggs but the other hens kept going in and laying eggs in there. After a few days I went through and candled everything, left them the eggs that showed the most development and threw any with small embryos in the incubator. The chicks under the hen hatched last Thursday and Friday, then suddenly Monday I heard peeping in the house and one of those eggs had hatched, so I was wrong on that one. My point is I didn't do anything special for that chick - no lockdown, no increased humidity, nothing, and it came out fine. I would not fret too much about the difference of one day.

I have two more that have started hatching today and again I haven't done anything different. It may not be ideal, but the incubator is full of turkeys and guineas at the moment that have another week so I really can't do anything for them.

 

[Lil Peeps]

Either day won't really make a huge difference. And don't worry about going into lockdown too soon because turning is only completely necessary the first two weeks, although I always wait out eighteen days some people stop turning on day 14. I'd say just stat raising the humidity tomorrow.

 

[Lil Peeps]

Oh and the first sign I see is the eggs rocking, I've seen it as early as day 16. The the next would of course be peeping. I just use a flashlight to shine in the incubator and carefully watch the eggs. But sometimes the eggs show like no signs and then just pop out. In my last hatch the one that I had never seen rock hatched first! I guess she was conserving her energy.

 

[thebulg]

Thanks everyone! I will get everything set up and just wait to add water until tomorrow! Thank you!

 

[Lil Peeps]

Thanks everyone! I will get everything set up and just wait to add water until tomorrow! Thank you!

Of course, good luck with you hatch! I would love to see pictures afterwards if you wouldn't mind.

 

[thebulg]

I will put them uo for sure! I just got done setting up. I candled one last time and my farthest along (most darkness) i could actually see its beak pouncing at the air sac! Pretty cool. The second egg has a little more of the dark dark red area and some veins visible, and the last egg is probably a day behind the first two. Still has a decent dark orange veiny area on one side that i assume will be nice and dark tomorrow. Movement in all 3 though! Correct me if i am wrong, but at this point it's also ok if the temp is between 96 and 100, right? The temperature is important now, but the humidity remaining fairly steady is the more important part, yes?

 

[Lil Peeps]

I will put them uo for sure! I just got done setting up. I candled one last time and my farthest along (most darkness) i could actually see its beak pouncing at the air sac! Pretty cool. The second egg has a little more of the dark dark red area and some veins visible, and the last egg is probably a day behind the first two. Still has a decent dark orange veiny area on one side that i assume will be nice and dark tomorrow. Movement in all 3 though! Correct me if i am wrong, but at this point it's also ok if the temp is between 96 and 100, right? The temperature is important now, but the humidity remaining fairly steady is the more important part, yes?

That's probably fine on the temp but personally at this point I try to keep it at 99 to 98. After they all hatch I let it go down to 95-96. Isnt it the coolest thing to watch chicks in the eggs!? I love candling so much! I have a few really good videos of my chicks moving in the egg but I don't know if you can share videos on here. Ooh, you might have an early hatched in the making, she's already ready to break her air cell! I always fall in love with my little chicks long before they hatch. We are about to start a batch of eggs soon and I AM SO EXCITED! It will be my 6th hatch! And also the most eggs I have ever hatched at one time.

 

[thebulg]

How many are you going to hatch? This is our first round, and i really have loved it! It's great also knowing which eggs come from which hens, and who is mating with them! I am excited to see which parts of the parents are in the babies and my husband and i have a bet on who will be a roo. He picked the laziest, i picked the most active. And it's crazy, because we marked them, and it's been consistent for a week now. We always get the most movement from my active pick (thats the one hitting the air cell) and his we normally only see one very slow, lazy move haha! It's so neat.

 

[Lil Peeps]

How many are you going to hatch? This is our first round, and i really have loved it! It's great also knowing which eggs come from which hens, and who is mating with them! I am excited to see which parts of the parents are in the babies and my husband and i have a bet on who will be a roo. He picked the laziest, i picked the most active. And it's crazy, because we marked them, and it's been consistent for a week now. We always get the most movement from my active pick (thats the one hitting the air cell) and his we normally only see one very slow, lazy move haha! It's so neat.

Oh my word! That is so cute! I love how you guys have a bet on who will be a rooster and they haven't even hatched yet!!! Are yo guys able to keep it if its a rooster? What kinds are you guys hatching? I don't know the exact number but we bought shipped eggs and it will be around 24 eggs! It's gonna be crazy when they all start hatching! I loved hatching our hens eggs! We got 9/10 of our chickens eggs, I know we won't get that good of a hatch rate with shipped eggs because they get hot and their air cells get messed up. We usually hatch about 6-8 eggs at a time but when we hatched our own we put ten of our own eggs in the incubator since we hadn't been getting good hatch rates, then we got almost all the eggs! then we put 12 in and got 11/12 but one hatched with its intestines outside its body! And that chick didn't make it. I don't know why that happened, all the rest of the chicks were perfectly healthy. But both the chicks that didn't make it, one DIS, were laid by the same hen and the air sacs developed on the side of the egg. And the eggs were shaped weird, so we probably shouldn't have set those anyway, those were some we hatched from a neighbors chickens. I'm so excited for this hatch, but boy is that gonna be a lot of eggs! And I hope a lot of cute little fluffy chicks!