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Delayed hatching?

backafter30

backafter30

New member
I have a clutch of corn eggs that look great: plump, white, and dry (that is, not yellow or slimy). The temperature always reads between 80 and 82, but they are on day 76. The clutch before them only went a few days over 60, but all were perfect. What gives? Any suggestions? Thanks!
 
Not sure if I can feel them thinning. I don't want to squeeze too hard. I can just imagine how that feels inside the egg. To me, they feel about the way they did when they were laid. A couple have gone bad and been removed, but most look great. They just don't want to come out. Wouldn't there be some indication if the occupants were dead?
 
You don't squeeze the eggs, you just run your finger gently over the shell (after washing and drying your hands!!) Instead of firm and resilient, they start to feel soft and flexible. This happens about a week before hatching.
 
If the occupants are dead, the eggs go bad fairly rapidly. You could candle them and maybe see movement, but you're well within the normal range especially for a lowish temp. Just be patient!
 
Oh! That's reassuring! I thought normal was 60 plus/minus 3 days? And those temps are low? What should they be? I had read warnings about anything over 85.
 
Lower temps give you bigger, more developed babies, with less defects. It just takes longer. Dave Partington calls it Low and Slow, I think. (He goes a few degrees lower, even.)
 
Some people incubate a little higher, closer to 85-86 degrees, but I choose to incubate lower, in the event of a heat spike, it's a safer range, and less chance of causign problems with the babies.
 
Some people are going to experiment with lavender clutches next season, to see if we can avoid kinks if incubating at 78.
 
I had a clutch given to me that went 105 days befofre hatching.
I gather that it had been at actual room temps (70-ish, maybe mid 70's) as it was stuck in a normal room closet. When I got them, I put them in my snake room, which was ambient at low 80's, and hatched a week later, at day 105.
I do not cut, I wait until they start pipping.
 
I have never cut. I figure the little guys know when it's time, and if they don't, then they probably weren't meant to hatch at all. Tomorrow is day 80, I think. Eggs still look great, temps still 80-82. I'll wait till they are obviously bad. The first clutch seemed ok at those temps.
 
Day 84. Eggs still look ok. Clutch before and after them hatched in under 65 days. Same incubator. Maybe one of the late clutches parents was a natural procrastinator? Still, it's annoying.
 
Something around day 95 now. Not that it matters. I cut a few open, and they were all perfectly formed, with nice colors, but all dead. (Stripe/motley amels and butters) Odd that they had not started decaying or smelling. Most eggs still looked decent, but all babies were dead. Not sure what could have caused it. Clutch #1 and clutch #3 was on time with no issues, whereas clutch #2 was all DIE. That female did double clutch, however, and her second clutch is due to hatch in just a couple of weeks. Maybe that one will be ok?
 
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