At Day 24--should I candle?

[livin-green]

Eight hours into Day 24, and not even a pip on the last 8 of my 12 eggs. The first 4 chicks hatched out on Day 21, but these 8 aren't doing anything.

Someone recommended going ahead and candling them. I candled them at Day 18 when moving from turner tray to egg cartons, and I couldn't tell anything specific--just an air sac with a dark mass at the bottom. Would candling now really tell me anything else and be worth the risk of any chance of a hatch? Or is that pretty much gone anyway?

FYI: None of the eggs are oozy that I can see nor is there any smell coming through the air vent of the bator.

Any experience here greatly appreciated

 

[Huny]

Got the same dilimma, was supposed to hatch Friday/Saturday, it's tuesday with no word on 8 eggs.

 

[Chef]

Sounds like you got some quitters. It happens... just part of the process. Pick them up and listen for peeps. Sometimes they break the air sac but dont pip the shell and you will here them peeping real good. If you hear peeps then go in for a manual extraction if you want any chance of saving them. Good luck!


Chef

 

[livin-green]

I'm chicken....ha!ha! No pun intended. How do I do a "manual extraction"? Any special technique??

 

[Chef]

Start at the fat end and chip away the shell. Peel it back slowly. You should be able to see if the chick is alive inside. It really helps if the chick already broke through the membrane. Which means you will be able to see its little beak and it should be peeping. Take some q tips and some warm water and peel back the shell slowly. As you do this keep the membrane wet with the q tips. It just kinda takes some pratice. After you fail a time or two you will see how it needs to be done. It's either try or let die. You choose. Good luck.


Chef

 

[livin-green]

Well, I went ahead and candled them, listened for any sounds, and watched for any movement....nothing.

I put them back in the bator for tonight. As homeschoolers, this is not only a hobby but a learning project, so I will wait until tomorrow when we can all open them up to see what we have--scratch that had.

Any pointers as to what to look for in determining what happened? I did notice that about 1/2 of them had funky air sacs where one side dipped way down. Could this mean they didn't have enough humidity? I tried the dry incubation method, so my humidity was around 33% for the first 18 days, then I added sponges to increase humidity to 60% for the last days.

 

[livin-green]

Well, we opened them up today, and no "survivors"

I have posted another thread to ask for help identifying the stage and any possible reason for quiting.:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=151872

I think several of them were blue, too! Another

I only have 3 splash and 1 black...hopefully one the splashes will be a roo and the one black will be a hen. This way I can get to a blue eventually, and still have some more splash....just no way to get any more blacks.

 

[juliechick]

I read on one sight that low average humidity can cause them to die in the shell. Unfortunately, there are other factors, so it's hard to be sure. Mine was fully formed, pipped the air cell, then died. I am going to try keeping the humidity a bit higher for my next batch. (It was around 35% - 40%, but kept dropping to 29% the first time.) I'm going to try keeping it in the 40's for the first 17 days, then up into the 50's the last three.

 

[livin-green]

Thanks so much for the info. I did the same as you--my humidity was around 35% most of the time. The info. I read on dry incubation said not to worry about it unless it dropped down to 25% or less....so I didn't. Guess that was a mistake! I'm doing Marans next which require a lower humidity, but even then more extensive research on that still says between 35-38%. I guess my Ameraucana's suffered from my mistake

I think I'm going to aim for a solid 40% next time, too. Good luck with yours!

 

[juliechick]

Good luck to you, too!