Anyone set with me this weekend? Set 28 October - Hatching 18 November

[6littlechicks]

I couldn't tell what I was seeing. It was just 3 days exactly to the hour when I checked them. Should the yolk be in the center or at the top and should I be in a really dark room when I am looking because I was in a lighted room around 3 pm so it was daylight. The only thing I could tell was that the yolk looked like it was 2 different colors.

 

[OperationHatch]

the ones that i had that were 3 days old the yolk was towards the top and there were tiny red spider veins. The darker the room and the more your eyes adjust the easier it is to see. The white eggs I can see the veins in daylight, the brown barred rock eggs I have to be in an extremely dark room and look reallllly hard to see anything. some of them I am still not sure.

 

[6littlechicks]

the dark egg in my avatar is the rir egg I have trying to hatch, it's pretty dark and the others are the small cream colored egg in my avatar but they have have white speckles all over them so it's like trying to see a pattern through connect-the-dots. I hope they are all fertile. I have seen my Cochin mating with my neighbor's rooster and my silkie rooster is mating her also, hmm?

 

[6littlechicks]

oh, you're in Otsego Michigan? We visit Gaylord and have been to Alpena also when our Grandmother lived there. We have lots of family in MI and we visit twice a year, it's beautiful there!

 

[OperationHatch]

We love it, but my mom and her side of the family is from Hazelton Pa lol. That's where I grew up.

The dark ones are the ones I have been having a hard time with too. I have Brown Pullets and I cannot see into them at all. I have some that are on day 7 and I still can't see in... I'm just playing the waiting game. I'm hoping to see some shadows when it comes closer to lockdown

 

[6littlechicks]

I'm going to check again this afternoon and with a blanket covering me o I have total darkness. I know the flashlight I have is good, it's my DH's from when he was a fire policeman. It's like a $100 light, it better be good enough to see in an egg, lol.

 

[OperationHatch]

I'm using a large LED right now. I can see stuff with a small LED but it takes a lot of effort

 

[ShelterFarm]

I don't normally candle until about day 8 or so. and then from there on I candle every 4-5 days until one last time at lockdown. I candle in a dark room using a high-power LED Mag-Lite and my hand - Otherwise I'm no expert, so I'll point you to these resources, which are the ones I used to learn about candling:

http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/embryology/embryophotos.shtml

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...d-stages-of-development-info-compilation-pics

I think this time around I might build a better candler so I can see better without both hands being tied up holding the light and the egg. Anyone got any suggestions on an easy-to-make candler?

 

[6littlechicks]

Okay, as I expected, the Cochin eggs were infertile

So, I cracked them and it just looked like normal egg inside. I did a fertility check on a new egg from a different girl today, and it was definitely a big looking bulls eye so maybe my Cochin just won't have fertile eggs. Is that possible? Anyway, I put all of my eggs left from today and yesterday in the bator and left the one RIR egg that has been in there because that one looked a bit spidery when I candled it

My Silkie cockerel has been doing a lot of hanky panky with the girls, lol. So the possible chicks would be black bearded silkie roo crossed with EE, RIR, and BR.

 

[OperationHatch]

the cockerels can be picky too. The lot of eggs that I have are all free-range hens with a cockerel. But only the white leghorns and barred rocks are fertile, he prefers them over the brown pullets. Also, the ladies fluffiness will hinder if the eggs get fertilized or not.