We are on our second hatch. Our first was a bit of chaos, in that we surely opened the incubator too many times to remove chicks and ended up with shrink-wrapped babies at the end who we then assisted successfully. That was 9 fresh eggs from our hens, 8 into lockdown, hatched and 7 chicks survived and are thriving.
This time we started with 14 eggs. 12 went into lockdown, but these are shipped eggs and most of our airsacs are saddled to some extent. Day 19 we had an early pip. I resisted getting involved at 24 hours... and after waiting 6 chicks hatched as of yesterday. Late morning today we took the 6 out and moved to the brooder. The other 6 eggs have no pips. Candling showed movement on some and at least one is peeping. I added some water and have gotten the temp and humidity back to close to 80%.
How long do we wait on the last 6 eggs before giving up? It's day 21. I'm super happy to have hatched 6, but I would hate to lose a chick who could have made it by messing up at this stage. Thank you for any advice!
This time we started with 14 eggs. 12 went into lockdown, but these are shipped eggs and most of our airsacs are saddled to some extent. Day 19 we had an early pip. I resisted getting involved at 24 hours... and after waiting 6 chicks hatched as of yesterday. Late morning today we took the 6 out and moved to the brooder. The other 6 eggs have no pips. Candling showed movement on some and at least one is peeping. I added some water and have gotten the temp and humidity back to close to 80%.
How long do we wait on the last 6 eggs before giving up? It's day 21. I'm super happy to have hatched 6, but I would hate to lose a chick who could have made it by messing up at this stage. Thank you for any advice!
