I'm going mad. Early and late hatch? Help!!

[Sarah B.]

I'm going mad. . . so, I'm hatching chicks. One has hatched -no, stop. That's not nice. It's not fine and it is not good. She, Thora, hatched on day 18. She was the furthest from the lamp and among the smallest eggs. Thora has three un-hatched siblings. This might not worry you but it worries me. This isn't about Thora though, she's fine, a little too fearless maybe but otherwise good. It's about her siblings. They haven't hatched! And it's the end of day 21. What am I supposed to do? I mean, I know some chicks hatch as late as day 28 but with one that hatched three days earlier? I don't have much hope. It's crazy to have hope for a late hatch if one hatched on day 18. It's crazy. And it breaks my heart that her siblings might not hatch because then I'd have to give her up. I mean, I can't be her best friend! I can't learn to fly with her. I can't learn how to roost with her. She'd be lonely all her life and that's just cruel. So that's why I'm going cuck-coo. . . if they haven't hatched by day 23 I'm doing the float test, candling and the chirp test. But there's another problem;

I'm going to my family's summer cabin for a week. Now this wouldn't be a problem if they'd all hatched. I know how to transport them safely. But eggs? Not a chance. Temperature drop and water spilling everywhere. . .

Is there any way to encourage a chick to pip? I've heard that when newly hatched chicks walk around, knocking the other eggs around, chirping etc. it encourages the others to hatch too. Could I put Thora back in the incubator to see if that changed anything? I've also been thinking about recording her chirping and playing it on a loop for the eggs. Any tips or advice would be appreciated.

 

[PD-Riverman]

You don't have to give the chick up----just find her a mate---run a add looking for a chick about the same age.

Not as far as the hatch, that's a tough one---if that one hatched on day 18, that could mean the temp was to hot in the incubator(no mater what the thermometer said)?? If it was to hot and being it was the futherest away---the rest could have died from being to hot? As far as hatching on day 28---for chicken eggs-----let me say that would mean you got serious problems. I have hatched 10,000 in the last 3 years and have never had one to hatch after day 22? But I make sure everything is right, temp, humidity, etc. I have heard of some hatching day 22, 23, etc but never day 28(for chicken eggs).

If ""I"" had a egg to hatch a couple days earlier----it would be in there knocking the eggs around until day 22---I never open mine after day 18 until after the hatch is over or past the due date. In other words----I lock down on day 18 and re-open on day 22 unless all hatch before then.

Now what type incubator you using? Sounds home-made?

 

[Pyxis]

How are you hatching them? You mentioned a lamp? What kind of incubator are you using? Is this still air or forced air? What has the temperature in the incubator been? The humidity?

For a chick to hatch on day 18, the temperature must have been pretty high, since that's what causes chicks to hatch early. And if that chick was the one farthest from the heat source, and you haven't been moving the eggs around in the incubator, it might have been too hot for the others.

Have you been candling at all to know that the other eggs are developing or still alive?

As for the chick, you don't have to get rid of her if the other eggs don't hatch. Just find and buy some other chicks to keep it company. You could ask in your local state thread here on BYC or check craigslist.

 

[Sarah B.]

You don't have to give the chick up----just find her a mate---run a add looking for a chick about the same age.

Not as far as the hatch, that's a tough one---if that one hatched on day 18, that could mean the temp was to hot in the incubator(no mater what the thermometer said)?? If it was to hot and being it was the futherest away---the rest could have died from being to hot? As far as hatching on day 28---for chicken eggs-----let me say that would mean you got serious problems. I have hatched 10,000 in the last 3 years and have never had one to hatch after day 22? But I make sure everything is right, temp, humidity, etc. I have heard of some hatching day 22, 23, etc but never day 28(for chicken eggs).

If ""I"" had a egg to hatch a couple days earlier----it would be in there knocking the eggs around until day 22---I never open mine after day 18 until after the hatch is over or past the due date. In other words----I lock down on day 18 and re-open on day 22 unless all hatch before then.

Now what type incubator you using? Sounds home-made?

It is home-made. The temperature has been 37-38 degrees celsius and the humidity has been around 45%. Once, around day 12 or so the temp went up (sunny days); I tried to lower it as soon as I could. That might have killed some, when I candled though all my eggs were fine. They were developing nicely, I saw no signs of them being dead. . .though that counteracts what I just said.

I took my chick out around three hours after she hatched ; she wasn't drying off properly. I made sure to be quick though and no eggs had pipped.

 

[Sarah B.]

How are you hatching them? You mentioned a lamp? What kind of incubator are you using? Is this still air or forced air? What has the temperature in the incubator been? The humidity?

For a chick to hatch on day 18, the temperature must have been pretty high, since that's what causes chicks to hatch early. And if that chick was the one farthest from the heat source, and you haven't been moving the eggs around in the incubator, it might have been too hot for the others.

Have you been candling at all to know that the other eggs are developing or still alive?

As for the chick, you don't have to get rid of her if the other eggs don't hatch. Just find and buy some other chicks to keep it company. You could ask in your local state thread here on BYC or check craigslist.

My incubator is home-made. I've got a lamp and a fan. A bowl of water for the humidity. It's a styrofoam container so it keeps heat well. The temp has been 37-38 but once it went rather high -up to 40, but for a very short period of time. The humidity has been good, around 45%. I've been candling my eggs. They all seemed to be developing nicely when I did.

 

[Laodicia]

Are you able to get a light for candling into the incubator? If you can you can try to make a shadow with you hand and check to see if there are any internal pips. If there is no external pips you could even take one out the sudden temp change will likely make it chirp if it has pipped internally. Try to keep the egg still, in the same position as it was laying in the incubator as much as possible anyway. Moving it won't kill it but it will make it harder on the baby. I'm not sure what kind of normal air humidity you have where you live. But where I live humidity at 45% kills my eggs. I'm in Nova Scotia. I have to run dry until day 18.

It is home-made. The temperature has been 37-38 degrees celsius and the humidity has been around 45%. Once, around day 12 or so the temp went up (sunny days); I tried to lower it as soon as I could. That might have killed some, when I candled though all my eggs were fine. They were developing nicely, I saw no signs of them being dead. . .though that counteracts what I just said.

I took my chick out around three hours after she hatched ; she wasn't drying off properly. I made sure to be quick though and no eggs had pipped.

 

[lazy gardener]

I agree. If the heat spike did not kill them, high humidity during the incubation phase will cause the air cells to be too small at hatch time, resulting in full term but drowned chicks.