Day 67 now! But still no pips yet. The eggs seem the same as yesterday with a few more sweating. Ill still observe them but also let them be until they finally pip!
Its about day 68/69 now. Still no pips though. These babies sure do want to take their time!
My grandma always said: A watched egg never pips.
I suppose I’ll just have to be patient then!
Are you sure about that???
*Based on an embellished account. Some paraphrasing may have been performed.
Its somwhere in the early 70s now im startikg to loose track slightly . But these babies seem to want to stay in their eggs a little longer still. The eggs seem to be good still so I guess its just a matter of patience.
But with the amount of eggs that went bad in the clutch im a little worried about them taking this long.
Its now been 72 days and still no pips. The last of the good eggs have mold now so im not too sure if any of them will pip. Now im a little unsure if it was an issue with the pairing and if i should try re-pairing them next year.
I’m sorry to hear things aren’t looking good. I’d say before you even think about re-pairing next year, you should troubleshoot to make sure it wasn’t an incubator problem as well.
Did you ever put a secondary probe in with the eggs to continuously measure the temperature in the egg box itself? Still air incubators can have hot spots, I run mine through a dual proble thermostat and put the probes in the egg box itself with pre-set on/off temps and alarms for too high/low.
Yes I did and they seem to match up fine.
Besides that im really not sure what the issue would have been since temps and humidity were stable all throughout incubation unless it is an issue with the pairing.
The problem with that thermometer/hygrometer is it only tells you the readings in real time and won’t alert you to temporary spikes or shut off the incubator when that happens. I’d highly suggest getting an actual thermostat and hooking the power for the incubator up to that with the probe in the egg box. It’s always better to be overly cautious than not. I’m not saying it’s not issues with the pairing, but you can also improve the incubation setup to just remove more variables.
The mold moving to the good looking eggs doesn’t sound great, unfortunately. I’d probably give them a few more days just in case and then cut (if you want to).
I hope you’re wrong and some plump hatchlings are about to emerge.
The only spare theromostat i currently have is this one here and its an on/off one.
Would this work?
Ill probably end up leaving it until saturday or Sunday then try cutting them.
That sure would be nice!
Imo, no, you need something with a digital display and alarm. While this would work to keep it from powering on above a certain temperature, it doesn’t tell you what the probe is registering nor will it tell you if it does go over a limit temperature. There are options available on Amazon, otherwise you can check with other UK keepers to see if they have any suggestions. I know here in the states Inkbird is often suggested as a low cost option. I’d also suggest if you don’t already have an infrared thermometer on hand, get one of those as well to spot check temps from time to time.
The issue with incubators of the type you have is that they are very prone to overshooting the target temperature, and if you check Amazon reviews and elsewhere, it’s a common complaint (along side issues with mold). The incubator heats until the thermostat registers the target temp, but the coil doesn’t immediately cool down. In the photo you posted, your incubator was displaying 27ºC (about 80ºF) but the probe in the egg box was showing 28.9ºF (84ºF) which is towards the upper suggested range for corn eggs, meaning you have much less wiggle room for temperature spikes.
From what I’m seeing on the Exo Terra site, your thermometer/hygrometer possibly records the minimum and maximum recorded temperatures, I’d see if you can check those to see if there has been a spike since you’ve been using it.
Ill make sure to have a look later then!
I just checked that now and it seems like the temps might not be the only issue but the humidity too.
I am sorry things aren’t looking hopeful. Even if it turns out that you get some healthy babies and I surely hope you do, some troubleshooting is a good idea.
There’s actually an appreciable difference between these. (For Fahrenheit folks, every degree C equals 1.8° F.) Given that one of those doesn’t read decimals, the difference may be larger or smaller. 27°F is about 80.6°F, an excellent temp for incubation. 28.9°C is 84°F, edging into the high side but still okay. The latest photo at 29.7°C (85.5° F) is a bit over what is widely accepted as safe. The high humidity is not a big issue, but those temps make me nervous. You have no way of knowing if that was the highest reading of the week, or if it’s coming down from something even higher.
@noodlehaus has some good suggestions to consider. I’m really sorry this has been such a stressful process. Still🤞 .