27th or 28th May hatch, looking for buddies

[AlexKilpatrick]

I'm in, due on the 26/27th or so. Here is a pic of my incubator loaded:

This is a totally random assortment from McMurray, so I have no idea what I am going to get. You can see the wide variation in the eggs themselves.

The one off by himself had a crack. I sealed it with candle wax. We'll see how he does. I'm planning to wait until day 7 to candle, so it will be more clear that something is there.

 

[natchlaly]

Nice to have you on board Alex x my last hatch was similar I went to see a local breeded n came away with 19 ramdom eggs x so exciting to see what hatches out

 

[GeoKan]

Quote:
Doh! I'm not really that dumb. I'm blaming it on the heat here. Gack! 93 degrees or 33.8 Celsius in your neck of the woods.

Great pics too! Thanks for sharing.



Quote:

I can't wait to the the pics! Sounds like an awesome incubator. Sounds a lot like one that I built ------> here.

I had so much fun building it, I might just make another one and use it as a lockdown box.

Quote:
Welcome to our hatch-a-long! In my best Forrest Gump voice, "A surprise hatch is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." Glad to have ya here Alex.

 

[AlexKilpatrick]

I'm on day 4 and I tried candling. I noticed on the small eggs that it was easy to see some development, as in the picture below:

However, on the larger eggs (which are more opaque/colored) I couldn't see anything but just a dark mass at the top. I assume that is normal?

 

[GeoKan]

Quote:
Great picture Alex. Awesome veining. Not sure about the bigger eggs. I assume that those may need more time for development?

How powerful is your flashlight?

I see you're using surgical gloves. Good idea. I have a bunch of those on hand.

I'm planning on doing my first candling on Saturday morning. That will be my 7th day. I have Marans eggs. So, I'm not sure what I might see.

 

[AlexKilpatrick]

Quote:
I don't know what it is about the green ones, but they just seem pretty much opaque. I tried a little harder on the brown ones and I could see some veins and a little bit of a dark mass. I would say at least 1/2 of them are showing some kind of development. I'm not giving up on any of them yet, though.

I got the flashlight on eBay as part of a package incubator deal. However, there is nothing special about it. It is a $3 LED flashlight (I think it has 7 LEDs), but it has the lens removed. That lets the pointy end of the egg get right up against the light, and it kind of seals around the flashlight edge. It works well, and you could get the same effect by just taking a cheap flashlight and remove the lens. You would only want to do this with a LED flashlight, of course. A regular flashlight would get too hot.

 

[kraftyladies]

Ok I would like to join too!. Mine are due on the 27th . I have 12 in the incubator, this is my first time. Can't wait!! I look at my incubator more than my TV!! I just tried to candle my eggs, but I couldn't really tell. They are brown and hard to tell. Might be too early too... I'm a little excited.

 

[AlexKilpatrick]

Quote:
I'm on the exact same schedule as you, and I can't really tell anything on the brown eggs either. I wouldn't worry about it yet.

 

[GeoKan]

Quote:
I'm on the exact same schedule as you, and I can't really tell anything on the brown eggs either. I wouldn't worry about it yet.

W E L C O M E Kraftyladies! So glad you can join us!

I'm on the exact same schedule as both of you as well!

I go into lockdown on the 26th and due on the 27th. This is my first time as well. I know what you mean about watching the incubator. My god, I've been wearing a path to the darn thing.

This is gonna be fun!

 

[natchlaly]

GeoKan, how come you are locking down on the 26th

I lockdown at the end of day 18 which is the 24th so that humidity can get up and I dont shrink wrap my chicks