3 darkest of 12 hatched on day 19/20. Day 22 the rest remain silent and no pips...?

[bigsurfwaves]

This is an odd situation. My 3 darkest eggs (Wheaten Marans, Partridge Penedeseca) pipped, zipped and hatched easily on day 19. Big healthy chicks emerged and tore around in the incubator moving the other eggs a bit. I removed them when dry because I was worried they would move the others out of position from the air cells. I put the eggs back the way they were. This was a very quick open up. I have the incubator in a room that is very warm with an oil heater to minimize any temp fluctuations. I have a humidifier in there too. I even ran the shower to keep humidity high in the room when I had to open it up briefly.

I started them late on Feb 24. I had a broody that changed her mind so I put her eggs in the incubator plus 9 more. So it is possible that the 3 that hatched had a head start. The eggs that hatched were the darkest and I'm pretty sure those were under the broody. So that explains the early birds perhaps. Since these eggs are all dark Marans and Partridge Penedeseca, and 3 are dark green, I ran lower humidity until day 18. I increased it from 35 to 65 and now it's 68-70. When the chicks hatched and were all wet in there it jumped up to 78. I've been really mindful of the humidity since the earlier part was a dry hatch. None of the 3 that hatched were even remotely shrink wrapped. One took a long time after pipping so I pulled it out to check it and heard it chirping. I made sure it had a hole through the membrane and loosened one side of the shell to help it get started and put it back super fast. It was zipped out on it's own in 8 hours. Honestly the 3 that hatched were the 3 that I was 'testing' fertility on based on their being from a new rooster who was purebred and seemed to have a heart attack after chasing hens. He was often out of breath and suddenly died. I checked him for tumors (none) and he seemed to have an enlarged heart from a defect. Mixed birds are almost always healthier it seems.

Now at day 22 are eggs from all my proven roosters. I still have nothing from them. No pips, no sound, no movement. I'm miffed. I have always sold my eggs and had excellent hatch rates with them. Several area schools use them. We have plenty of roosters, the hens are well covered by healthy roos fed an appropriate diet and given vitamins, and there is no fertility issue here. I could not see anything in these eggs being SO dark, so candling was pointless. None of them smelled bad before lockdown. I did not want to float test them because of the delicate nature of the bloom. The eggs I used are clean. The incubator is brand new and has excellent reviews. It obviously worked for the 3 that hatched. How many days should I wait and what should I try next? I am reading that some eggs hatch pretty late. Should I turn up the temp or what? Thanks for reading.

 

[ChickaGalaxy]

I'd float test, or if you hold them up to your ear, tap the side and wait they will uasually tap back if alive. Usually. It's what I do beacause mama hens do it to make sure they don't leave the nest to early. If they're super weak they won't tap back, just because they don't have the strength. Another thing I do is drill a tiny hole in the shell at the air bubble just to make sure they don't suffocate, also the extra oxygen can give them more strength. With them being there that long the air hole would be a good idea, I do it if I'm uncomfortable with the amount of time the chick is taking to hatch.

 

[bigsurfwaves]

I'd float test, or if you hold them up to your ear, tap the side and wait they will uasually tap back if alive. Usually. It's what I do beacause mama hens do it to make sure they don't leave the nest to early. If they're super weak they won't tap back, just because they don't have the strength. Another thing I do is drill a tiny hole in the shell at the air bubble just to make sure they don't suffocate, also the extra oxygen can give them more strength. With them being there that long the air hole would be a good idea, I do it if I'm uncomfortable with the amount of time the chick is taking to hatch.

They float just right. There's an air sac in all these eggs. They all appear viable. I also did the tap thing. Yesterday and today, absolutely nothing. No noise at all. I am completely shocked. Only 3 of 12 ?? With 10 roosters covering the flock of 40? No way. They were all fertile. These chicks are either late, got too big and drowned, or shrink wrapped? They either couldn't get in position or got moved by the early ones banging into all the eggs. If hey still haven't internally pipped then I hear nothing because of that right? Do the eggs chirp before the pip? I feel like no... Is there a chance they could still hatch if I see and hear no movement or sound at Day 23/24? Like if the incubator is off a degree they could be days late right?

 

[bigsurfwaves]

They float just right. There's an air sac in all these eggs. They all appear viable. I also did the tap thing. Yesterday and today, absolutely nothing. No noise at all. I am completely shocked. Only 3 of 12 ?? With 10 roosters covering the flock of 40? No way. They were all fertile. These chicks are either late, got too big and drowned, or shrink wrapped? They either couldn't get in position or got moved by the early ones banging into all the eggs. If hey still haven't internally pipped then I hear nothing because of that right? Do the eggs chirp before the pip? I feel like no... Is there a chance they could still hatch if I see and hear no movement or sound at Day 23/24? Like if the incubator is off a degree they could be days late right?

Ok I drilled a hole in 2 of them. If I knew they'd internally pipped but not externally I'd be confident that might do something. Wait and see. There was no blood. That marans shell is really thick!

 

[ChickaGalaxy]

At this point all you can really do is wait. Have any of the eggs moved? Wiggled, rotated, or rolled? They usually move even if just a little bit when they're alive. I'm at the same point with my eggs, most have hatched, but I still have two left on day 23. I had a lot more but determined that most were dead. The way I determined that out is I chiped little bits of the shell around the hole I already drilled on those eggs and shined a light inside. Just enough so I could see if the chick was moving. I have a bunch of marans aswell. I hope you have some luck!

 

[NatJ]

They float just right. There's an air sac in all these eggs. They all appear viable. I also did the tap thing. Yesterday and today, absolutely nothing. No noise at all. I am completely shocked. Only 3 of 12 ?? With 10 roosters covering the flock of 40? No way. They were all fertile. These chicks are either late, got too big and drowned, or shrink wrapped? They either couldn't get in position or got moved by the early ones banging into all the eggs. If hey still haven't internally pipped then I hear nothing because of that right? Do the eggs chirp before the pip? I feel like no... Is there a chance they could still hatch if I see and hear no movement or sound at Day 23/24? Like if the incubator is off a degree they could be days late right?

It sounds like these ones are probably dead. But unless you can tell something by drilling holes, I might leave them in the incubator until day 24 or later, just to be sure.

Whenever you do remove them, I would open each egg to see what is inside. That may help you tell what happened or at least when it happened (didn't develop vs. quit halfway vs. fully developed but unhatched.) That doesn't help these eggs, but might help you avoid a repeat in future.

I feel that cracking unhatched eggs is a job to do outdoors, not inside a house. Most of them will not smell, but just in case...!