"Aloha" Chicken Egg Hatch-a-Long!

[Pigeony]

So I'm very excited about this and I need to share this journey with people who get it- I am hatching eggs for the first time, to add to my growing flock currently at 14 birds. I live in AZ and managed to obtain 19 Aloha hatching eggs, which I'm really excited about because I think their genetics would be great to start my own breeding project with my existing mixed flock. 4 of the eggs are cracked to varying degrees, but I'm giving them a shot anyway because I had room in the incubator. Currently we're on day 4 and tomorrow I plan to candle them for the first time since putting them in the incubator! I am very invested in this project and desperate to see at least some success come out of it, so despite not being able to see much, I've been hovering over the incubator whenever I can lol.

 

[BirdWrangler]

That’s so exciting!! Good luck with your first hatching journey

 

[Pigeony]

Moment of truth! Day 5, and it's time to candle: Drumroll please!

A2 and B6-B8 are all cracked eggs, with A2 having the worst cracking, but all do seem to be alive at this point. I don't think A3 or B2 are fertile or if they were, they're very early quitters. A4 looks to be an early quitter because the development is a lot less than the other eggs and I think I see a faint blood ring. All the other eggs look to be lively and developing!

 

[Pigeony]

So I got impatient and candled the suspicious and cracked eggs before my next scheduled total candling (Day 10, Tuesday the 14th) and there was some expected and unexpected results. I candled A2-A4, B2, and B6-B8. I also candled one of the uncracked "normal" eggs to have a development comparison so additionally B3 was candled. I didn't take any pictures because I was going for quick and minimally disruptive, but here are the results:
-A2 despite being cracked was very much alive and active.
-A3 was definitely a dud, no development at all. I removed from the incubator and cracked open just to see and it was just a normal egg.
-A4 was a pleasant surprise! I thought this one was dead, it was so behind in development last time I looked at it and now I can say it's definitely still alive and progressing.
-B2 was also definitely a dud, I did the same as I did with A3.
-B3 was a great and healthy example of a normally developing egg!
-B6 was the most normal looking development-wise of the cracked eggs.
-B7 and B8 both had some concerning weirdness to them, harder to see through and something was just off. I think they may still be alive at this time, so I'm leaving them for now but I'm suspicious that they'll have to be discarded at some point.

 

[Pigeony]

It's Day 10 and I candled all the remaining eggs today! I didn't take any pictures because I was trying to get through the candling quick, but I would say all the eggs look like they're still alive and at the development you expect to see for Day 10. So I still have 17 eggs incubating! Next total candling will be on Day 15.

 

[Pigeony]

It's Day 12 and I sure am getting antsy! So excited for the next candling. Trying to not hover over the incubator all the time but it's hard not to.

 

[mallory2013]

Super egg-citing!! Have you noticed a decrease in hatching rate with more frequent candling?

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Yay! I hope all the eggs make it! If they hatch please post a ton of pictures!!!

 

[Pigeony]

Super egg-citing!! Have you noticed a decrease in hatching rate with more frequent candling?

I haven't done an incubator hatch before this personally, but I figure the less disruption to the process the better, and from reading/hearing the experiences of others, I decided to only candle 4 times total. It's not that candling definitely affects the hatch, but the more frequently the incubator is opened, the more chance you create a negative effect on hatch rate because of introduction of bacteria, humidity/temp differences, etc. Depending on who you ask, they'll have different opinions on how often is best to candle. These particular eggs are extra important to me, so I'm trying to reduce any potential issues to a minimum, even if it's just probably minor.

 

[Pigeony]

Yay! I hope all the eggs make it! If they hatch please post a ton of pictures!!!

I so will post pictures if/when they hatch, don't worry! Getting closer and closer!