Styrofoam Incubators Club

[SpinningJenny]

Definitely a living embryo. It looks great! EE eggs are very hard to candle, you may not see much until day 10 or so.

Yeah, that one is a good'un! I measured air cells today and marked them. So exciting! The little chickies are feisty in there! So much movement!

The other cream colored egg I mentioned still has no visible anything, except a free floating mass, I guess, the yolk? I am starting to think it wasn't fertilised to begin with. Shame though, it was a really pretty egg! I was hoping something interesting would have come out of it!

I suppose at day 10 if I see no changes I might open her up for research purposes. Can you do anything with it? I suppose it would be ill advised to eat a 10 day old warm egg...

 

[BertandMary]

When there is any doubt....If it aint stinkin it's stayin. At least until day 18

 

[SpinningJenny]

I'll keep the suspected duds in but I have to admit, you guys have me kind of terrified of this "exploding rotten egg" phenomenon...

 

[BertandMary]

I'll keep the suspected duds in but I have to admit, you guys have me kind of terrified of this "exploding rotten egg" phenomenon...

we were worried about that too but read how rare it actually is.

 

[MeepBeep]

I'll keep the suspected duds in but I have to admit, you guys have me kind of terrified of this "exploding rotten egg" phenomenon...

we were worried about that too but read how rare it actually is.

Yes, it's rare, not to say it doesn't happen as it does, but if you keep an eye on the eggs is even more rare as it will generally give signs before it 'explodes'...

Some signs to watch for is seeping and smell... Also if you candle you can sometimes see black bacteria blobs forming inside that are clearly not developing embryos also when candling look for fractures in the egg shell...

And last but not least be gentle with the eggs, a small bump can cause a fracture in a stinker egg shell and cause it explode...

 

[raisingdaisies]

I worry a little about exploding eggs, but not as much as dead birds. I know it happens, but still, I hope against reason we don't find any fully or nearly fully developed, dead.

Today, peeking in the windows I see eggs rocking a bit. We could have babies as early as tomorrow, but more likely Friday and Saturday

 

[lucyludy]

So far my egg air sacs have grown each week and I'll be removing mine from the egg turner in 2 days. Fingers crossed!

Question - the last time I incubated the one chick that hatched (sole survivor) walked around in there and moved, bumped and disturbed all the other eggs. I read not to remove the chick until feathers are dry but doesn't all that knocking around and turning the eggs kill them?

Thanks

 

[BertandMary]

So far my egg air sacs have grown each week and I'll be removing mine from the egg turner in 2 days. Fingers crossed!

Question - the last time I incubated the one chick that hatched (sole survivor) walked around in there and moved, bumped and disturbed all the other eggs. I read not to remove the chick until feathers are dry but doesn't all that knocking around and turning the eggs kill them?

Thanks

Not at all. However, we removed them after only two hours though. Our humidity is kept very high and like another poster told us, we don't have to worry about the small drop in humidity as we grab a chick. It climbs right back up.some folks are more hands on than others. I can't keep my hands out of the bator once they start hatching. I also candle a few on day 4, which was today. Ok, candled them all.....even the FBCMs which had little to show but a couple had obvious early signs

 

[MeepBeep]

I read not to remove the chick until feathers are dry but doesn't all that knocking around and turning the eggs kill them?

You should wait until they are dry and fluffed before you move so they don't get a chill when moved... As for them bulldozing the other eggs, nothing to worry about it's perfectly normal and if anything it encourages the others to hatch...

I have said this before but it's worth repeating this 'lock down' phenomenon has grown into a set of supposed black and white rules well above and beyond it's original intended purpose... Lockdown's original purpose and still IMO it's only legit purpose is first and foremost to be a mental minder that the chicks are hatching soon and thus you should remove or turn off any automated turners so the chicks don't get injured or entangled in the devices and/or move the eggs to a hatcher... Second it's a mental minder that the hatching eggs could benefit from an increase in humidity to avoid shrink wrap... And that is about it...

The you can't open the incubator, you can't touch the eggs, you can't candle the eggs, you can't do this or you can't do that is 99.9% hyperbole...

A broody hen can't count, and thus she continues to handle the eggs under her the same exact way from day 1 until day 21 or beyond if they don't hatch, she doesn't know lockdown from day 0... When the first chicks hatch under the hen, they bulldoze the remaining eggs the same way they do in an incubator... The chicks pop in and out from under mom like whack-a-mole while mom attempts to keep the unhatched eggs under her that are getting pushed around by the chicks...

 

[beetandsteet]

You should wait until they are dry and fluffed before you move so they don't get a chill when moved... As for them bulldozing the other eggs, nothing to worry about it's perfectly normal and if anything it encourages the others to hatch...

I have said this before but it's worth repeating this 'lock down' phenomenon has grown into a set of supposed black and white rules well above and beyond it's original intended purpose... Lockdown's original purpose and still IMO it's only legit purpose is first and foremost to be a mental minder that the chicks are hatching soon and thus you should remove or turn off any automated turners so the chicks don't get injured or entangled in the devices and/or move the eggs to a hatcher... Second it's a mental minder that the hatching eggs could benefit from an increase in humidity to avoid shrink wrap... And that is about it...

The you can't open the incubator, you can't touch the eggs, you can't candle the eggs, you can't do this or you can't do that is 99.9% hyperbole...

A broody hen can't count, and thus she continues to handle the eggs under her the same exact way from day 1 until day 21 or beyond if they don't hatch, she doesn't know lockdown from day 0... When the first chicks hatch under the hen, they bulldoze the remaining eggs the same way they do in an incubator... The chicks pop in and out from under mom like whack-a-mole while mom attempts to keep the unhatched eggs under her that are getting pushed around by the chicks...

This new view on "lockdown" has been really eye opening for me. MeepBeep have you written an article about this? I think this alternative view is something people ought to hear about because sitting there for 3 days and being terrified to even touch the incubator because it's "lockdown" is nerve-wracking at best