Set my first eggs ever this morning - Page 2

Day 12 (13 today actually, but since I haven't even looked at the eggs yet I'm counting for yesterday) and as far as I can tell everything's going ok.  I tried candling a few of the brown eggs for my mom last night (she visits every Sunday) and things still look to be going well.  There was still movement, although not as fast as there was a few days ago.  Maybe they were just sleepy.  Or they're starting to get big enough that movement isn't easy anymore.  Today is going to be a tough one for keeping the temperature steady.  It's 56 right now, and weatherchannel.com says today's high is 75, although I heard on the radio yesterday the high was supposed to be in the 80's with a heat index over 90.  So right now the heat is on in the house, and I'm trying to decide before I leave for work whether to turn the air on, or wait until I come home for lunch to do that.  It got up to 78 in the house yesterday before I turned the air on and the incubator was running a little high, but I didn't turn it down knowing that we'd get a significant temp. drop overnight.  I hope the temps weren't too high for the eggs (102 according to the thermometer, but I don't know how off my thermometer is...at least neither of the thermometers in there was reading over 102).

Day 14 and I had my first temp. spike.  My heart leapt into my throat this evening when I went to turn eggs and discovered that my temp. was up to 104!  The incubator was really warm this morning (101-102) and we were supposed to have another really warm day so I was worried about it getting too hot and tried to adjust the temp. down just a smidge.  I knew I should have left it alone!  I was so relieved to candle and find movement in most of my eggs that are on day 14.  Two I think are quitters because they seem really far behind all the others (1 of them I can't see veins in anymore either), and two were so hard to see into I gave up before I saw movement lest I make myself blind straining to see.  Which leaves me with 15 that have lots of movement in them.

I also candled the 12 eggs that we set this weekend, which are on day 3.  I think 4 of them are clear, but I think I can see veins starting in the other 8.  I will leave them all in there until this weekend when it will be easier to tell.

Now I get to spend the next hour or three making sure the temps are stabilized again before I can go to bed.  So much for turning in early tonight!

Unfortunately, we probably won't be around to help with the hatch.  Tuesdays are usually my "long" days at work, when I don't get to come home for lunch.  And of course, next Tuesday, when these eggs are due to hatch, is when my husband decided to make an appointment to take the car in to be worked on ALL DAY!  And here I was hoping I could take the car that day and come home for lunch.  I'm going to be a wreck all day worrying about what I might be missing and whether or not I am needed at home. 

DH got home before I got the temps stabilized and went to bed, so I had him take a peek at the two eggs I'm pretty sure died.  The one we both agreed had quit, so we pulled it.  We also agree that the other one is probably a quitter, but left it in for a while longer just in case.  I would feel terrible to crack an egg open and find I had killed an embryo!  The one we pulled we broke into a bowl and it was definitely without a doubt gone.  Comparing to online pictures it looks like it quit somewhere around day 7-10, most likely day 8.  Kind of sad, but really cool at the same time.

Day 17, and of the 18 eggs I have left I think they're all good!  Candled tonight and saw movement in all but 3 that were too dark to see anything in.  Tomorrow we're going into lock down and I'll up the humidity.  I also candled the second batch of eggs which are on day 6 today.  Two were most definitely clear.  Eight looked pretty good.  And two had some veining, but not nearly as much as the others (and I thought I saw a blood ring, but DH thinks it's just a vein).  So we marked those two and put them back in to wait and see what happens.  After all, the one egg we thought had died but didn't pull "just in case" turned out to still be alive after all when I candled it again two days later.

End of day 19, and we have our first pip!  And peeping!  I'm so excited, I don't know how I'll sleep tonight (and I was exhausted until I saw that pip!).