Candling eggsperts please check this out - give me your thoughts.

[ashem0]

I am hoping for some thoughts/advice on my Isa Brown eggs which I candled last night. There's 6 of them. They were brought round to me by a local fellow who said they had come straight from his incubator and had been in there for 5 days. I then put them straight into mine. Today is now day 7 for them. This image is not mine, but is basically what I saw in my eggs. One had definite movement. A couple appeared to have a red smear. Most were almost black but had definite airsac and some shadowing.

I'm wondering A: they were further along than he said and are between days 15-18 or B: are they non viable?

Any guidance would be appreciated. I have found plenty of images for viable and normal development of eggs, but not for nonviable development. Oh, and this is my first time incubating.

Cheers!

 

[ChucktheChick]

Those lookalike more in the 12-17 range!! I would say move ur due date a little earlier! I don't think they would be non viable but who knows! Keep us updated and pm me if u wan to!

 

[ashem0]

I'm pretty darn sure now, that their dates have been mixed up! I just candled one IB in particular - and lo & behold there was a rather startled chickie in there! Very active and very much occupying most of the egg!

Looks like I now have a juggling act on my hands, because I've also got day 3 Maran's eggs in there. I think I'll have to take the rotator away in a few days for the IB's and hand turn the M's. But how do I increase the humidity for the IB's, without drowning the M's?? And how do I hand turn the M's during lock-down for the IB's?


Thought - Can you hatch eggs just under the lamp? Out of the incubator? The temp is the same initially.

 

[ashem0]

Got an email back from the bloke who sold me the eggs... I was right in that they are further along than initially thought. Apparently they are 12days! Good guesswork Chuckthechick!

 

[ChucktheChick]

Well, I have hatched with different dates. I just kept the humidity up at 60% the whole time, for all of them! I have not had any troubles with drowning, but that's just me. To get it up like that, I take a wet, warm rag and put it in there! Goes up right away. In lockdown, you r not supposed to open the bator, but I do for turning, and my hatch rates are the same. I would say to leave them all together, but make sure they are separated and you know which is which! I have gotten them mixed up many of times! I have heard of hatching under lamps, but I have never done that before.

Oh and thank you about the guesswork! I've been candling for many years! Just experience!

 

[ashem0]

Thank-you for your ideas Chuckthechick. On closer inspection, the 6 IB eggs - actually look like there are several stages of growth in there. So they were either put in at different times, or there's a couple of quitters. Likely the latter cause I can't see any movement, but I know that's not a deal breaker.

I've decided to keep them all in there. Keep candling the IB's each night to check for the tell-tale beak in the air sac. Take away the rotator at that point and hand turn the M's eggs. Humidity is not an issue here - I only have to add a drop of water in the tray and it skyrockets! But I was also thinking 60-65% was a fair compromise.

Cheers!

 

[dwalters]

I candled my eggs today at day 18 they look somewhat like that. Guess i should pay closer attention for movement!