Turning Eggs/Incubation period

  • Thread starter Thread starter Anonymous
  • Start date Start date
A

Anonymous

Guest
My nephew has a small chicken farm and my daughter thought it would be neat to hatch chicks for her science project. She bought the incubator and got 5 fertilized eggs from my nephew. I sort of let her take care of everything up until this point and just made sure she checked the water & temp daily and turned the eggs 3 times a day. After speaking with my nephew today he mentioned that there was some things that needed to be done in the last few days before hatching and asked if she did this. He wasn't sure as to the particulars since he just let his hens do the work when he wanted new chicks. I was unaware and checked online here to find that you have to stop turning them after day 18. Today is day 21 and she turned them this morning before going to school. I read that I need to increase temperature & humidity as well and put cheesecloth down with some wet sponges?! This is all new to me but I'm worried that it may be too late!?! There is no cracking or any signs of pipping. Any suggestions as to what I should do??
 
Hi, I have just hatched 19 a few days ago. The only thing I can suggest is put some wet sponges in to get the humidity up and maybe mist the eggs with warm water. Dont touch the temperature that stays the same. Just keep the humidity up and wait and see and obviously dont touch the eggs. If the eggs are viable you should hear cheeping and a small crack or hole will appear when its pipped. If and when they do pip they may take 24-48 hours to hatch. Please be patient and dont open the incubtor or the humidity will be let out (the extra humidity helps soften the shell so the chicks can break it) Good luck and let us know how they get on :)
 
Thanks for the quick repy! I'm worried about her moving them the past 2 days and us not getting the humidity up sooner. I'm off to the store to get some sponges! I'll keep you posted :D
 
Hi, turning them will make no difference- the hen doesn't stop turning them with three days to go- it's only because the chicks have filled the eggs and in an automatic incubator , hatching chicks can be damaged by the turning mechanism- that's why they say stop turning with three days to go( some chicks can hatch early)
Try to get the humidity up and them leave them alone- don't keep opening the incubator as the humidity will fall every time you do. good luck and let us know how it goes.
regards, David :)
 
Don't worry - I had a seriously blonde moment a few days ago and forgot to turn off the auto cradle :oops: :oops: .. or bump up the humidity, :oops: I went into the chick room yesterday and thought I saw something move - 8 chicks swinging backwards and forwards clinging on for dear life, to eggs that hadn't yet hatched - all the other chicks have since hatched and haven't suffered at all.. :D
 
Well 1 started pipping today :D :D :D I'll let you know how the other 4 make out and if this one makes it through the hatch! Thanks for the replies!!
 
Hey that's great news :-) it may take up to 48 hours to hatch so don't worry if you think they are taking too long! Also when the first starts cheeping loudly it will encourage the others to pip, just keep the humidity up. And congrats although I know you can't count them till they hatch but it's a great start!
 
So we have 2 hatched chicks (about 6 hours ago) that are running around the incubator. 3 eggs with still nothing but the hatched chicks have banged them around a bit. The 2 chicks in there seem to be pecking each other and are acting hungry. They keep pecking at bits of egg shell and green globby stuff that came out of the egg with them. The sponges I put in there to get the humidity up are on one side of the incubator and the chicks keep laying on them...wondering if I should take those out? (since they are probably wet and might be making them cold). When they lay on the sponges their bellies seem to be trembling a bit but I'm not sure if it's from exhaustion or if they are cold. Incubator temp is right around 100. Any suggestions on what to do next??
 
Hi, congrats! Do you have a brooder ready and are they fairly dry if so put them in there, and you can put some food and water down for them. They may not properly start eating for a couple of days but that's find they have the yolk sac... If you don't have a brooder get a cardboard or plastic box and you can use shredded paper as bedding if you don't have sawdust ( don't put something flat and shiny they need something to grip on or they will get deformed legs). You will need to hang a light for warmth in it but try to have it out of reach from the chicks (I used a desklamp the first time) turn the light on and wait for it to get warm, put your chicks in! Hope this helps :-)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top