UPDATE - graphic photo - Day 18 - no more movement?

[mamagonemad]

This is my first hatch and frankly, I'm a wreck!
On the evening of day 17 in our homemade incubator, we had 3 eggs (started with 6) with definite movement. I was so excited. Candled again on the evening of day 18...nothing. Not so much as a wiggle. I've now set them into the hatcher and am watching temps and humidity like a hawk. Tuesday should be hatch day. Do you think they have a chance?
Funny how attached we get to these little boogers while they're still in their safe little packages.
If these don't work, I do have 7 more in the incubator, due around the 19th.
*sigh*

 

[gabrielle1976]

Could have been sleeping when you candled , possibly like human babies they tend to have less exagerated movements as they get into postion for birth not to mention they may run out of space. could you see any viens around the aircell or anything . I woudnt give up on them yet.

 

[SIMZ]

Hatching can be pretty stressful, can't it?

I think it's way too early to panic, and they're probably just fine. Just keep watching your temp & humidity and leave everything alone now. Difficult, I know! Keep us posted!

 

[FenDruadin]

Haha! Welcome to the Incubation Worry Club.

Odds are your babies are fine. As they grow larger and fill more of the egg, they become less active, so it's quite common not to see much, if any, movement in the last few days. They also sleep a lot in preparation for their big hatch day.


Try to stay calm and get them locked down. Hope to see you posting about your awesome hatch in a few days!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Breathe!!! Fingers Crossed for them!!!

 

[mamagonemad]

Thanks for the encouragement! I had no idea how stressful this would be. Tomorrow is day 21 and at this point I'm just trying to not get my hopes up. I'm thankful that I have another batch in the incubator, just in case.
I want fluffy babies!

 

[nok13]

learn from my mistakes!!!
just leave thme alone. dont open. dont peek. dont obsess. wash the dishes, bake cookies drill holes but leave the eggs alone... mine eventually hatched on day 24 and 25 they hatched , not a good hatch just one little feisty guy who is already boxing at his reflection (thai fighting chicken); this is after temps were too low, humidity too high, and old eggs... so fi they hatched (albeit with four defective chicks taht went to the brooder in the sky) then im sure something iwll hatch in yours...

i also have a staggered set, we had put more in on the 18 and 19 of december so today is day 21 , i will wait a week...
good luck

 

[SIMZ]

I remember the first time I hatched.

(It is just barely better now when I hatch, by the way!)

I faithfully turned the eggs and obsessed over everything. They were Marans eggs, so I couldn't tell what was going on. I just knew that something probably had gone wrong. A day or so before they were supposed to hatch, I remember looking at the still eggs in the incubator, realizing there were no signs of life. All of the sudden I heard a loud peep!!! I ran screaming through the house and scared my dogs and kids half to death! LOL

Hoping to hear some hatching news from you soon!

 

[mamagonemad]

It is now day 24, and there are still no signs of life. I finally decided to candle last night and I'm afraid things just don't look right. I'm pretty sure all three babies died shortly after I candled them on day 17. The small half of the eggs look filled with fluid and icky floaty stuff (technical term). The air cells look a bit small to me...humidity too high? It ran between 40 and 55 percent the entire time.
I'm considering opening one up to try to decipher what happened, though I'm a little wigged out by the ick factor. I'm also not sure what I'm looking for.
Thoughts?

 

[mamagonemad]

Here's what I found in all three of them. Today was supposed to be day 24. Last day of movement was day 17...does this look right? There was tons of fluid and yolk, and the air cells did seem fairly small to me. Gah!!! I don't know what I expected. I wish the chick would have written me a note or something, telling me what happened.