When will they start peeping?

[michelle89]

My BO has been sitting on her eggs for the last 17 days, they are due to hatch on the 22nd. Should I be able to hear something by now?

 

[HEChicken]

They don't start peeping until after they've pipped internally, and are able to breathe the air from the air sac. That happens in the last couple of days before hatch. When I've incubated eggs, I've heard them peeping but when my broody hatched, I didn't. That may have had something to do with the incubator being next to my bed, while the broody was outside, so I wasn't as close to hear them.

 

[Happy Chooks]

They don't peep until right before they hatch, when they pip through the internal membrane. (before they pip through the shell) My broodies usually hatch a day early - so you'll probably hear peeping a day before or day of hatch.