Fresh Start

I ordered some lavender Orpington eggs and I just put them in the incubator this evening! This is my first time ever hatching eggs! I'm excited and scared! 12 eggs and about half looked pretty porous. We'll see how it goes!

Best wishes for a good hatch.

Good luck, hope you have a great hatch

So we're on day 12 of eggs in the incubator and we candled them tonight. There are a few eggs that are clearly empty and a few that are hard to tell. In a couple, there are clearly black spots that are chicks of different sizes so I'm thinking some stopped developing and the larger ones are hopefully still going. But there is one in particular that has our whole house in a frenzy. Egg #9. I was shining the light and saw a very large black area in the egg and as I turned to put it back in the incubator I could have sworn I saw it move. So I held it back up and shined the light and watched carefully for a few seconds. That chick looks like it's taking a Zumba class in there! It's moving like crazy!!! Is that normal this early? Is it possible to have one egg so far ahead of the others? I mean, they were supposedly collected around the same time and put in the incubator at the same time. I'm very curious about this little one now! It's actually pretty amazing to watch it move. A thought did cross my mind though that maybe it's organs are on the outside and that's why we're able to see so much movement???

Seeing movement is totally normal By day 14 the chick is pretty much fully formed. If you can't see movement in the others try not to worry they may just be asleep. If you are unsure leave them in and recheck them at day 14.

Here are some candling pics for you to check out ~ https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=230

Thank you for your advice! I checked out the pics and what a difference between days 11 and 12! Most of my eggs that I'm sure have chicks look like like day 10 or 11 with the rest looking like day 12 so I'd say we're on track. I'll candle again in a couple days to get a better idea of what's going on with them. At what point should I remove the eggs that are empty or blood ring? Now or before lockdown? I really appreciate your responses!

I got pics!!! I even got a video of the chick moving in its shell! So exciting!!! Can you post videos on here??

Egg #1 - Empty


Egg #2 - chick!


Egg #3 - blood ring


Egg #4 - empty


Egg #5 - blood ring


Egg #6 - chick!


Egg #7 - empty


Egg #8 - empty


Egg #9 - active chick!!!


Egg #10 - chick (may have stopped developing)


Egg #11 - empty


Egg #12 - chick!

I agree with your pics, you sure can tell the ones with chicks in

To post a video you first need to upload it to you tube or similar. Then copy the link and use the video icon in your reply box, here is the video icon ~



Paste the link using the icon

You have to watch the black shadow just below the orange very carefully.

[VIDEO]

Here's the longer clip.

[VIDEO]