Are my chicken eggs progressing? Please help!

[RareAseels]

Hello everyone!

As I have seen everyone on Backyard Chickens is very knowledgeable and know what they are talking about, this is great because I was looking for a really dedicated forum like this to ask an urgent question.

You may not have heard of this breed but I have 1 Shamo Aseel cock and 2 hens which 1 of them recently started laying eggs. She has laid about (belive it or not) 24 eggs in total! But she is not going broody so I recently took the most recent ones(under a week old) which look calcium enriched and placed them inside pointy side down at room temperature for 3 days while I maintained humidity and tempreture in my incubator. On 29th March 2016 I placed 5 of the best eggs in the incubator, before this I had candled them to see how good the shell really was. Anyways, on the third day of incubation (out of curiosity) I candled them to find out if they were fertile and if anything was taking place as you know with eggs things can happen within a matter of hours, I realised something was taking place! The eggs had gone darker within each of the eggs. My question is why is it when today when I candled them out of curiosity again.. (day 6) it seems like the shadow has grown a tiny bit more and there are very and I mean very thin, hard to see tracks of veins but no matter how hard I tried to look I just couldn't find anything which looked like a beating heartor living embryo or an eye why is this? :'( Also there was very thin and I mean very thin veins from the top of the eggs which I couldn't really see but luckily no blood ring. But since the last time I checked them things have taken place.. I must admit I am not using a proper candler I am using my iPhone's torch but it is extremely bright.. Could it not be bright enough? Hence why I cannot see an embryo or heart and it makes the vein tracks seem thin? Someone please help!! I am desperate!

Also, I have made a device which keeps my eggs upright, pointy side down. This device is manually turned and it is quite difficult to do. Can I just take the eggs out and place them on there side or is it too late now? I am having a hard time turning them but I do get it done and do it 5 times a day but would rather do the old 'x' on one side and 'o' on the other turning trick

Thanks for reading, I hope you can help

 

[XxMingirlxX]

It's too early to see an embryo or an eye on day six! That's why you can't see anything, everything you have described has seemed normal to me.

It's not to late to change your turning method if you wish, as long as you maintain the proper amount of rotations per day.

I recommend you check out this article of hatching eggs, I think you will find it helpful :
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

 

[RareAseels]

Thank you so much!

But I have seen people candle them as little as day 3 and there is stuff going on

I will read your link now and my next rotation is due exactly half an hour from now that's when I will just lay them flat

 

[lazy gardener]

If you intend to be a candling addict, (IMO there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you handle gently, and have super clean hands) just enjoy the show. I would not candle any one egg more than once/day. And you might limit your candling to 1 egg/day. That gives them a rest from your attention. You can also candle them in the bator without picking them up! You'll only see heart beats if you are lucky enough to candle at the exact right time, and IF the chick is up against the shell. Some chicks are shy! They tend to hang out deeper in the egg, and are harder to visualize. Days 7 - 10 are IMO the best candling days, cause the chicks are very active, and you can see them swimming around in there. After day 10, they get so big that it's hard to visualize. Are you candling in a very dark room, using a very bright light with new batteries, candling down through the air cell, and watching patiently for any shadow of movement?

As far as turning, with this small batch, you could easily lay them on their side and hand turn. I like to put something soft under them, like some waffle shelf liner, but don't always do so. I do like to get some liner over the hardware cloth before hatch.

 

[RareAseels]

Hello Lazy Gardener!

Thanks for your advice it was really helpful! I plan to next candle my eggs on the 10th day should be fun haha

I have just turned the eggs using my device which holds them upright and I'm now planning to lay them flat with 'x' on one side and 'o' on the other... It is now day 7 when it is 6pm and is there enough time for me to lay them flat? Without harming them as they have so far been upright for the past

Here's a pic of my manual problematic, hard to use, annoying, rubbish egg turner

 

[lazy gardener]

Yes, you can lay them flat now. The time I'd avoid any drastic position changes is after day 14. That is when they start getting into hatching position. So, If I'm changing from flat to upright, I do it on or before that date.

 

[RareAseels]

Thank you Mín Girl and Lazy Gardener for your great advice! I will be laying them flat on there next rotation which is at 6pm

Thanks