Cochin Bantams and Frizzle Cochin Bantams!!

[frenchiegirl21]

I have 11 eggs incubating from this group, on day 15, looking great! They aren't perfect cochins...they have beards and muffs, and dark feet, but I think they are awesome. I'm so excited to see what the babies turn out like.
I also got one egg from my "better" cochin pen, first time layer the day I set my eggs, so I put it in too. It's also looking great!

Hooray! I've got 42 cochin, frizzle cochin, and silkie eggs in my incubator right now

I haven't candled yet, but the temp and humidity have been fine so far! They are on day 6. I am hoping for some frizzle hens to replace the one that died and the one I had to sell.

 

[WVduckchick]

Hooray! I've got 42 cochin, frizzle cochin, and silkie eggs in my incubator right now

I haven't candled yet, but the temp and humidity have been fine so far! They are on day 6. I am hoping for some frizzle hens to replace the one that died and the one I had to sell.

42?! Nice!! Good luck!!!

 

[dawn secord]

I've put a few eggs in my new incubator. How long should you wait to candle them?

 

[WVduckchick]

I've put a few eggs in my new incubator. How long should you wait to candle them?

Well.... you will get varying answers.

But... I'm a candle addict. I candle usually daily (sometimes twice a day). You can start to see veining usually by day 4ish. Darker or more dense shells can take up to day 7-8 or so, to be really sure if they are developing well.

 

[Laurel Meadows]

I've put a few eggs in my new incubator.  How long should you wait to candle them?

I candle almost every day as well!
But- this is mostly done as they sit in the incubator. I just put a small flashlight up against the eggs starting about day 3.
I don't usually take them out to candle except on days 7,14 and 18 to mark air cells.

 

[WVduckchick]

I candle almost every day as well!
But- this is mostly done as they sit in the incubator. I just put a small flashlight up against the eggs starting about day 3.
I don't usually take them out to candle except on days 7,14 and 18 to mark air cells.

Same here

 

[dawn secord]

Thank you. I have been candling them every day and was worried that I was doing it too often. It is day 4 and I'm seeing veins. Why do you mark air cells? Learning here!

 

[WVduckchick]

All bird eggs need to lose a proper amount of moisture, to give the bird an air cell to begin to breathe in. It breaks into that air cell for its first real breaths. If the air cell grows too much, it can hamper the development of the chick. If the air cell isn't large enough, it can cause other problems. Like not enough air for the chick, and the chick can grow too large to rotate and break out.

So ideally, we monitor throughout to make sure the egg is losing the right amount of moisture.

Humidity can be adjusted along the way to get it close to ideal.

Here's a chart to use to gage this

 

[dawn secord]

Thank you very much. Have printed out the chart.

 

[WVduckchick]

So on day 7, if the air cells look overly large, increase your humidity. If they look too small, decrease it.

What are you running humidity at now?