First time incubating - so excited!!

[Xmasbaby75]

Howdy! First of all, it looks like your pic is with the light shining up into the more pointy end. The air cell should be on the fat end. Did you try shining the light from the top down into the egg? That direction gives you a much better view. The pointy end can vary a lot at day 14. I do see active blood vessels, so that's great! Try candling the other way, and let us know what you see!

I will try that next time, thanks.

 

[WVduckchick]

I will try that next time, thanks.

I'm on day 23 with ducks and day 16 with chicks. Lock them all down this weekend, due next Tuesday. I'll see if I can get a good duck candling pic this evening.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Xmasbaby75]

I'm on day 23 with ducks and day 16 with chicks. Lock them all down this weekend, due next Tuesday. I'll see if I can get a good duck candling pic this evening.

Best of luck to you!

That would be great thanks. So lockdown for ducks is on day 25, right?

 

[WVduckchick]

That would be great thanks. So lockdown for ducks is on day 25, right?

Yes, normally. I will be away this weekend, from Friday to Sunday. Day 25 starts Saturday evening for me. So I'm turning off the turner, and laying the eggs down tomorrow, then I'll jack up the humidity on Sunday when I get home. I would have upped the humidity tomorrow also, but the air cells are on the small side, so I'm going to give them a couple more days.

 

[Xmasbaby75]

I candled again (this time from the top) but it was still difficult to see some of the air sacs. I did see lots of veins and some movement on some, but it looks like about half of them may be bad. This is a pic of what I believe to be a bad one (weird looking shape, not sure if that was an air sac or not). Does anyone have a pic of a blood ring? Also, will it harm anything if we just leave the bad ones in there until day 30? I just don't want to make a mistake and throw out one that isn't really bad due to my inexperience. Thanks

 

[WVduckchick]

Yea, that definitely doesn't look normal. There's a possibility of them "exploding" if they rot, but normally you will notice a bad odor first. So you can leave them until you are positive, but please investigate any weird smell!

I pulled these with a google search... not my pics. Basically, all the blood vessels join with each other, causing a ring to form.

 

[WVduckchick]

This is one of my pics... nice healthy veins.

 

[Xmasbaby75]

Yea, that definitely doesn't look normal. There's a possibility of them "exploding" if they rot, but normally you will notice a bad odor first. So you can leave them until you are positive, but please investigate any weird smell!

I pulled these with a google search... not my pics. Basically, all the blood vessels join with each other, causing a ring to form.

This is one of my pics... nice healthy veins.



Thank you so much! That helps. According to these pics, on the one I was questioning, it was not a blood ring I saw, so that must mean the veins I saw were good. I will be checking for any bad smells - thanks for the warning! They are due to hatch on the 22nd. I'll update!

 

[WVduckchick]

Oh that's good! I look forward to an update. Mine are due on the 15th

 

[WVduckchick]

Hows it going now @Xmasbaby75?

I locked down 7 duck eggs, with 15 chickens. I'm a few hours into day 21/28. 8 chicks have hatched and I have pips in 4 or 5 duck eggs, and a few chicks. One duck is starting to zip, but they are slow. Maybe by morning.