Setting eggs 6-18 anyone with me

[ChicksinPR]

ChicksnPR , were you ever able to get your humidity down to 50% or under? I live in South Florida which is also really humid. I tried everything. Nothing worked. I stayed at 73% for the entire first day. Then, I turned the air condition colder. Cold air holds less moisture. We usually have our air at 76 degrees. I lowered it to 72 degrees since the end of day 1, and my humidity has been between 39% - 50%. I do not have water in the incubator, because apparently it is so humid here I don't need it until lockdown.

xoxo Annmarie

no, it stays in the low 50's for me... i haven't had it go up, thank goodness. I do hope That humidity won't cause me any problems...cross my fingers. Good to hear you figured something out for your humidity. good luck to you annmarie...sending good vibes...

 

[Phyrst]

I need help! I tried to candle my eggs today. It was awful. I have to admit that I've never candled before. I guess I've been lucky in the past that bad eggs did not explode inside my incubator. My hatches weren't 100%, but they were over 90. Today before I started candling, I went back and read every post, every book, every Youtube video and every article from searches on the world wide web about how to see and what I would see on day 8! I started with 1 dozen eggs out of the 39. 2 had moving chicks. O yeah! 5 were void. I opened them up and the yolk was still quite yellow with no blood, no smell, no embryo. I'm guessing they were either shaken and treated rough during the journey by mail, were too hot/cold or infertile. The remaining 5 eggs had a dark middle and I could see a vague shape but it was very cloudy. There was no blood ring. I made 2 different candlers from pics and descriptions on this site. I used flashlights as recommended, then tried light bulbs, wrapping my fingers around the egg and even had a professional egg candler that was useless. This dozen eggs traveled the farthest to get to me, had no extras, cost the most and of course, are my favorite breed. One egg was cracked on arrival but wasn't leaking nor has an odor. I now live in fear of contaminating my hatch! I've pasted the link to egg development/candling below. My eggs look somewhat like the 2nd (middle) picture of Day 10. How can that be?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

I don't want to do anymore candling until I'm sure of what I'm looking at. It would be terrible for me if I removed what I thought was a dead egg only to open it up and find a partial embryo. Also, I wonder if the drop in temps while I candle is safe. I watched a video of a woman candling her eggs and she didn't seem to give a thought to the eggs sitting in the opened incubator! When I lifted my top off of my 'bator, the temp went down to 87 in just a few seconds. I'm extremely slow while candling and that is aggravating. Am I suppose to do it real quick? Is that something to worry about? How do I learn quick hands??!!
I read that a hen turns her eggs about 95 times a day. An 89% hatch rate is common for a seasoned hen. My numbers are so bad right now, I've lost my confidence! Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I did think of taking a picture of the eggs to show you how they look but couldn't manage holding egg, light and camera as well as figuring how to keep the camera from over-exposing the picture. This candling thing seems rather perplexing!

 

[MomsGoneMild]

Take a deep breath. That's what we are all here hatching together for. It's my first time too.

I am not sure how much my advice will be worth, but from what I understand you can have your eggs out 20 - 30 minutes, because hens leave their nests that long to go eat, drink, and poop. Although they don't do these things often when they are sitting on eggs, they surely don't sit and starve for 21 days straight.

Candeling shouldn't hurt them as long as you are sure to wash your hands very well with antibacterial soap first. Make sure your hands are dry. Move them as slow as you can. Take your time. Enjoy it.

You still have plenty of eggs. I wouldn't remove any that were questionable. Personally, I am just looking for obvious signs of death because I don't want any rotten ones to explode. So, even if I see one that is questionable I give it the benefit of the doubt and put it back in. It's not like they are going to explode overnight. If it really is bad, you will see it gradually looking worse.

Trust your instincts. You still have plenty of eggs left. You are doing fine.

xoxo Annmarie

 

[caj1985]

Take a deep breath. That's what we are all here hatching together for. It's my first time too.

I am not sure how much my advice will be worth, but from what I understand you can have your eggs out 20 - 30 minutes, because hens leave their nests that long to go eat, drink, and poop. Although they don't do these things often when they are sitting on eggs, they surely don't sit and starve for 21 days straight.

Candeling shouldn't hurt them as long as you are sure to wash your hands very well with antibacterial soap first. Make sure your hands are dry. Move them as slow as you can. Take your time. Enjoy it.

You still have plenty of eggs. I wouldn't remove any that were questionable. Personally, I am just looking for obvious signs of death because I don't want any rotten ones to explode. So, even if I see one that is questionable I give it the benefit of the doubt and put it back in. It's not like they are going to explode overnight. If it really is bad, you will see it gradually looking worse.

Trust your instincts. You still have plenty of eggs left. You are doing fine.

xoxo Annmarie

X2

I won't remove any of mine that I feel questionable about until close to lockdown unless I see a real reason to remove it.

Some of the newer incubators are actually set with a cool down time to mimic the hen getting off the nest so a few minutes open won't hurt.

 

[Kimbroe1981]

I need help! I tried to candle my eggs today. It was awful. I have to admit that I've never candled before. I guess I've been lucky in the past that bad eggs did not explode inside my incubator. My hatches weren't 100%, but they were over 90. Today before I started candling, I went back and read every post, every book, every Youtube video and every article from searches on the world wide web about how to see and what I would see on day 8! I started with 1 dozen eggs out of the 39. 2 had moving chicks. O yeah! 5 were void. I opened them up and the yolk was still quite yellow with no blood, no smell, no embryo. I'm guessing they were either shaken and treated rough during the journey by mail, were too hot/cold or infertile. The remaining 5 eggs had a dark middle and I could see a vague shape but it was very cloudy. There was no blood ring. I made 2 different candlers from pics and descriptions on this site. I used flashlights as recommended, then tried light bulbs, wrapping my fingers around the egg and even had a professional egg candler that was useless. This dozen eggs traveled the farthest to get to me, had no extras, cost the most and of course, are my favorite breed. One egg was cracked on arrival but wasn't leaking nor has an odor. I now live in fear of contaminating my hatch! I've pasted the link to egg development/candling below. My eggs look somewhat like the 2nd (middle) picture of Day 10. How can that be?

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

I don't want to do anymore candling until I'm sure of what I'm looking at. It would be terrible for me if I removed what I thought was a dead egg only to open it up and find a partial embryo. Also, I wonder if the drop in temps while I candle is safe. I watched a video of a woman candling her eggs and she didn't seem to give a thought to the eggs sitting in the opened incubator! When I lifted my top off of my 'bator, the temp went down to 87 in just a few seconds. I'm extremely slow while candling and that is aggravating. Am I suppose to do it real quick? Is that something to worry about? How do I learn quick hands??!!
I read that a hen turns her eggs about 95 times a day. An 89% hatch rate is common for a seasoned hen. My numbers are so bad right now, I've lost my confidence! Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I did think of taking a picture of the eggs to show you how they look but couldn't manage holding egg, light and camera as well as figuring how to keep the camera from over-exposing the picture. This candling thing seems rather perplexing!

When I candled, I'm sure I did it slower then most, but I took and egg, and slowly walked over to my closet, shut the door with the light off and used one of those little LED flashlights (I got it at tractor supply for 1.99, it's super bright). I made sure I held the egg with the point down and I had my hands around the flashlight and moved my hand around the egg. I couldn't see anything until I got the light towards the top of the egg, then i moved it around a bit on the top and started to see veins. Once I saw a few, then I could see a lot. It was like it just clicked. In the eggs that i didn't see anything in, i went ahead and kept in the incubator, just incase I was wrong. Here are some pics of an infertile egg, how I was holding it and the flashlight I use. This is only my first successful time to candle.



It was on the side and up toward the top that I saw all the veining. I do have my eggs in a LG egg turner so I wasn't sure if it was ok to turn them on their side.

 

[ameraucanacrazy]

I just set 18 asil eggs 6 eggs are black asils, 6 eggs are white asils, and 6 eggs are red asils. I bought my eggs from ebay, it was my first time buying from ebay

.
The eggs are set to hatch July 16

i cant wait!!

 

[Phyrst]

ameraucanacrazy, Welcome to our BYC thread. I've never seen asil chicks so looking forward to pictures from you when they hatch! Good luck!

 

[Phyrst]

X2

I won't remove any of mine that I feel questionable about until close to lockdown unless I see a real reason to remove it.

Some of the newer incubators are actually set with a cool down time to mimic the hen getting off the nest so a few minutes open won't hurt.

How are your eggs Crystal? Have you candled yet?

 

[Phyrst]

When I candled, I'm sure I did it slower then most, but I took and egg, and slowly walked over to my closet, shut the door with the light off and used one of those little LED flashlights (I got it at tractor supply for 1.99, it's super bright). I made sure I held the egg with the point down and I had my hands around the flashlight and moved my hand around the egg. I couldn't see anything until I got the light towards the top of the egg, then i moved it around a bit on the top and started to see veins. Once I saw a few, then I could see a lot. It was like it just clicked. In the eggs that i didn't see anything in, i went ahead and kept in the incubator, just incase I was wrong. Here are some pics of an infertile egg, how I was holding it and the flashlight I use. This is only my first successful time to candle.
It was on the side and up toward the top that I saw all the veining. I do have my eggs in a LG egg turner so I wasn't sure if it was ok to turn them on their side.


I did just like you did in your pictures. Used same exact flashlight, held eggs same way. My bator is in a closet. I never did see any veining, even in the eggs with movement. Bantam eggs are so little - maybe that is why I can't see the veins. Think I will leave eggs alone for a bit longer! Thanks for advice.

 

[caj1985]

How are your eggs Crystal? Have you candled yet?

Looks like out of my 25, I have two blood rings and 2 clears, but I am not an expert I will wait and see. I am absolutely thrilled with the results of the 16 shipped eggs only having 1 blood ring so far and 2 clears. I may have more quitters later on. My rooster must be doing his job because all 9 of mine were fertilized.