Advice please... Candling on day 18

[ethingtonart]

I am uncertain when to lockdown my eggs. I know lockdown is day 18, however I am not certain how far along my eggs are.

I am attempting to make an educated guess about their ages through candling. I have been using the pictures in the sticky as a guide, but I keep second guessing myself! I don't wanna mess this up!!

I am seeing the "bottom" side completely full to the air cell. The "top" side is very dark but I can make out veining in a thin 'u' shape extending to almost the middle of the egg, but not quite. The egg shell itself is green, but was not particularly dark to begin with.

Any thoughts on age? I suspect 16 to 18 days, and I have stopped turning now just in case.

When could I safely lockdown? Could I lockdown with lower than usual humidity and bump it up in a day or two?

 

[clayb226]

I keep track of my days with a calendar I downloaded off the internet. I customized it so my is the day I set the eggs. Then I write down everything on the calendar. This sure helps for these kind of situations. I am a stickler for taking notes though, because I have had to troubleshoot too many issues with notes. As far as guessing the day, sorry, I am very new and have no idea.

Thanks, have a great day, and be blessed.

 

[ginormous chicken]

Did you lose count? When do you think you set them? Can a family member help you narrow down the window of what day it was?

 

[ethingtonart]

I have hatched many times before, and have never had a problem because I collected eggs and put them in the incubator. I do take good notes, and I have been taking notes since I put the eggs in the incubator.

However, this time, I had a hen go broody, and I don't know when she started sitting, so I don't know how far along they are.

I am very nervous about when to lockdown.

I should have the broody interrogated.

"Where were you on the day of April 1st!?" "Cluck"

 

[clayb226]

Quote:
I see, I did not realize that was the situation. If you do not mind me asking, how come you did not let the broody hen hatch them? I wish you good luck with your hatch.
Have a great day, and be blessed.

 

[ethingtonart]

I have Marek's disease in my flock

, so the chicks need to be vaccinated before they can be exposed to the older birds. If it wasn't for Mrs. Sneaky, I wouldn't have been hatching at all though. So I should thank her.