Incubating Eggs!!!! HELP!

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The Chicken Boyy

The Chicken Boyy

Songster
11 Years
Oct 17, 2008
103
1
121
Charlotte, NC
OK well i did some research before. So i got my dad to let me order about 26 fertile eggs on meyer hatchery. 14 golden buff 12 Rhode Island red. They arrive ok 2 were a little chipped so i didn't put it in the bator. I learned that eggs that move freely are dead chicks or not good eggs! so on day 14 I checked them and 1 was not fertile, 2 move freely so i tooked them out. I also learn to open and see what had happend for hatching experience. But when i open one that moved freely inside the egg it's legs were still moving a little!

-And now i feel guilty of killing it. Can someone just try to tell what happend there????????????

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Ditto. What do you mean move freely? The chick and yolk inside the egg do float. That's why you have to turn the eggs. You move the yolk and eventually chick around so it's exposed to fresh whites-food and doesn't grow weird by being smashed on one side. I got an egg this batch that when I broke it the yolk was stuck to the inside of the egg. It didn't develop past day 3. I'm guessing someone didn't turn it enough while it was being stored.

Bad eggs are clears. Clears mean there is no veins or chick only a yolk after many days of incubating. Usually around 7-10 people pull the clears but it depends how light of eggs you have and how easy you can see inside them. These eggs were not fertile or were damaged/killed before they even started to grow.

Or Bad eggs can also have blood rings. That happens when the chick starts to grow and blood vessels form then it dies. The blood pools and bacteria grows causing a dark ring around the yolk.

Check this site:
http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Candling/index.html

The days don't line up because it's for duck eggs but it shows you how a good egg develops and what some bad eggs look like.
 
The shadow you see in the egg can move around no problem. Unless you are 100% sure, like a blood ring or a clear, don't take out any eggs till after the hatch. Sorry for your loss. We all have accidents.
 
Thanks Silkiechicken, I would have felt all alone over there! What happens is they sleep just like we do. When you candle if it does not move, set it aside and put a pencil question mark on it, don't CULL it yet! Reason being it could be alive and just sleeping! We have done this and numerous times the next time we candle, it is wiggling like mad. Don't feel bad! It has happened to a ton of us. We all learn the hard way sometimes but that is ok. You will be a pro at it soon enough. How many incubators did you say you have? Make sure when day 18 comes, you have some sort of brooder ready. I use a rubbermaid container with a large hole cut in the top. I put chicken wire over the hole and tie it down with those zip-tie things and then put the heat lamp over top of it. Works great for little chickeys. Make sure you keep a thermometer in there so the babies don't get too hot or cold.

Here are some great candling pictures.....check it out! And you are doing just fine! Don't be so hard on yourself!

http://shilala.homestead.com/candling.html

http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Candling/index.html

http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Candling/Fresh/index.html
 
Thanks for all the tips on what to look for when candling. I tend to leave any un-hatched eggs until well past the hatching date to ensure they are not just a late hatch. I'm not experienced enough at candling, and if I can't be 100% sure an egg is bad, I don't bother it. Needless to say, I've ended up having to go out to the woods to bury some very rotten eggs.
big_smile.png
 
These are wonderful links, and as we were unsure today when candling the second link showed duck eggs, so I will feel MUCH better to get to day 6. That I'm sure I can see better then day 4.

Thank you for those links!
 

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