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APRIL Hatch a long ......Anyone?

I just set five leghorn x frizzle cochin eggs under my broody frizzle cochin called Solo :) she would just not give up being broody so i decided to let her have a go she just over a year old and its her first time. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!!
 
So I did weigh each egg two days ago which was day 8. Five had lost 5%, three had lost 7% and two had lost 8%.

I have read in different places here that eggs need to lose 13-16% by lockdown. Assuming they lose weight linearly (I don't think they do), they should be down from 5.8% to 7.1% by day 8.
My incubator temp runs a little on the low side, 98-99, and I had way too much humidity the first few days, so I'm surprised by the 8% eggs.


My scale only weighs to the nearest gram, so I'm thinking the numbers would be a little closer together if I could weigh to the 10th of a gram. Yes, I'm a nerd!!!

At this point, I'm more concerned at this point that they've lost DIFFERENT amounts than the actual overall percentage lost. The only action I've taken for now is that when I turn the eggs I move them by one spot. That way if different areas in the incubator are causing the different rates of loss, it should balance out. That's my theory. : )


Mostly I'm rambling on about this weighing stuff because I'm in an egg hatching time warp! And if I'm posting here I'm not tempted to mess with the eggs! Or less tempted...lol.

Oh, candling night tonight! Day 10! Fingers crossed they are all still growing!

(I did cheat and took a look into one of the EE eggs last night...little birdie in there moving around! Eeeee!)
 
My experience with incubating is that each egg is different. I have always had varied weight loss in my hatches and it never seemed to effect the outcome. Hope the candling goes well :)
 
pogmobum,

A stubborn broody hen was the reason we tried hatching eggs last spring! She just wouldn't give up so we found her some eggs. This year when I need a broody hen, not one of them is even pretending to be broody. lol

Good luck!
 
So I did weigh each egg two days ago which was day 8.  Five had lost 5%, three had lost 7% and two had lost 8%.  

I have read in different places here that eggs need to lose 13-16% by lockdown.  Assuming they lose weight linearly (I don't think they do), they should be down from 5.8% to 7.1% by day 8. 
My incubator temp runs a little on the low side, 98-99, and I had way too much humidity the first few days, so I'm surprised by the 8% eggs.  

My scale only weighs to the nearest gram, so I'm thinking the numbers would be a little closer together  if I could weigh to the 10th of a gram.  Yes, I'm a nerd!!!   

At this point, I'm more concerned at this point that they've lost DIFFERENT amounts than the actual overall percentage lost.  The only action I've taken for now is that when I turn the eggs I move them by one spot.  That way if different areas in the incubator are causing the different rates of loss, it should balance out.  That's my theory.  : )


Mostly I'm  rambling on about this weighing stuff because I'm in an egg hatching time warp! And if I'm posting here I'm not tempted to mess with the eggs!  Or less tempted...lol.

Oh, candling night tonight!  Day 10!  Fingers crossed they are all still growing!  

(I did cheat and took a look into one of the EE eggs last night...little birdie in there moving around!  Eeeee!)



My experience with incubating is that each egg is different. I have always had varied weight loss in my hatches and it never seemed to effect the outcome. Hope the candling goes well :)


I second this! I've also read that some people weigh all the eggs together to track the weight loss.

I still have one week before candle day for me.  (I only candle one time at half time)


This is a good idea! i try not to handle mine too much, candling at day 10 & once more right before lockdown. I have to do this because I think I really messed it up this time :-/ my homemade incubator worked great the first time I used it & now the humidity is unstable. I have to put water in there every couple hours - sometimes every hour! I'm doing forced air. Maybe I should start thinking about still air. The humidity has gone down to 30% so many times.
 
Did Day 10 candling last night. All of them look very similar and had movement except two. They were both BO eggs and I have a harder time seeing into the brown eggs. One had a weird dip in the air cell, and I did not see movement. The other one just did not seem as developed as the others, and again, no movement.

I put them back in with the others...might look at them again in a few days?
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I'm am a noviced egg candler, and that's an understatement! But it sure felt like some of the eggs were past day 10...much darker than the numerous candling photos and videos I've spent an undisclosed time looking for/at.
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The weight loss now ranges from 6% to 12%, where they "should" be around 7-9%. Yeesh. The 12% sticks out like a sore thumb now, the next highest loss is 9%. It has a lively little chick in it, so we'll see. I'm not adjusting the whole incubator for one egg.

Anyway, eight looked similar and had movement. Yay!
 

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