Hatching Time ! unsure when to take out of incubator..

[Gypsymoon_x]

Hello

So if i counted the day i put them in today would be hatch day, but most people say not to count that.. so technically tomorrow is hatch day.. well much to my surprise 1 out of the 2 silkie eggs hatched at 3:15am, lucky me i woke up at 3 for the bathroom just in time to watch it hatch it had started peeping/chirping at 10:30am the previous morning, by 6:30pm it had pipped, and wala 3:15am hatched.. so it's currently been in the incubator for 8 hrs now and it makes me nervous lol i keep going to check on it, i only have 1 other egg which hasn't peeped or pipped yet but as its technically not hatch day i will be patient

i'll attach a pic of my new hatchling

 

[Debbie292d]

Congratulations! What a cutie!

Chicks can live for 72 hours without food/water as they are still absorbing their yolk and survive off that for that long. You can either give that one egg another day, or when this chick looks all fluffy and ready for the brooder, check for pip holes in the remaining egg and if you see none, take the chick out and candle the egg to see if it's still alive. Regardless, you're really in no hurry right now, but tomorrow you could evaluate the situation again.

This is why I do 5-day lockdowns for my silkies because twice now out of dozens of hatches I've had a couple pip on Day 18, and twice also had a couple not hatch until Day 23.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So if i counted the day i put them in today would be hatch day, but most people say not to count that..

An egg does not have a full day's development the instant you put it in the incubator so you say "1" the next day to start your counting. An easy way to check your counting is that the day of the week you put them in is the day of the week the 21 days are up (or 28 days or 35 days with other species). If you start them on a Friday then the 21 days are up on a Friday.

so technically tomorrow is hatch day..

It is not unusual for eggs to hatch a full 2 days early or late. That's why we go into lockdown on Day 18, to make sure they are in lockdown when they pip. One of the common causes of them being early or late is the average incubating temperature. If it is warm they can be early, cool they can be late. That's why you need to calibrate your incubating temperature, any incubator's preset can be off. But temperature is not the only reason they are early or late. Heredity, humidity, how and how long they were stored before incubation started, and just basic differences in the eggs can have an effect.

Many of my hatches, whether under a broody hen or in my calibrated incubator, start about 2 days early. Some are on time but some are early. I think that is due to heredity.

it's currently been in the incubator for 8 hrs now and it makes me nervous lol i keep going to check on it,

Before they hatch they should absorb the yolk. They can live off of that yolk for 72 hours or more. You don't need to be in a hurry to take those chicks out.

I often have around 20 chicks hatch in my incubator, usually I put 12 eggs under a broody. Sometimes that entire hatch is over within 16 hours of my first one hatching. I've had some drag over 48 hours, into the third day.

One that stands out in memory was when I had one chick hatch 2 days early in my incubator, late in the day. I did not see any pips until about 24 hours later, a little before I went to bed. When I woke up another 16 had hatched and that hatch was over.

Under a broody hen a chick hatched late Monday night. I don't know when the others hatched but she did not bring them off of the nest until Friday morning, about 80 hours after the first one hatched. All of the chicks were fine.

To me it sounds like you are doing great. Good luck with that last egg.