Bingo Egg Hatch-a-Long

[Demonwolf37]

Just set my dozen eggs from the Chicken Poop Bingo and figured some of y'all might want to follow along.

This is my first time hatching shipped eggs, so I'm really nervous about them. All 5 that I could clearly see into had detached air cells, so I'm hoping they'll be alright. I'm trying to lower my expectations, just in case

There was a bit of drama with the postal service, but our local manager really went above and beyond to get us these eggs, so let's hope they hatch

INFO:
• Incubator: Brinsea Advance II
• Thermometer/Hygrometer: Inkbird ITH-10
• Eggs: All that I could see into had detached air cells, but no cracks. The shells are dark and some are very hard to see into. They sat for a full 24 hours and are (as of setting) 5-6 days old.

Temperature is steady, but on the lower side, I've got the incubator set to 100°F to compensate until I can insulate a bit more against heat loss.
Ambient humidity is like 30-40% right now, so I'm not adding too much water yet, but I'm monitoring the hygrometer to see if I need to make adjustments.

I won't be turning for the first two days because of the detached air cells, then will turn them by hand sparingly until day 7 where I'll reevaluate after candling and likely turn on the automatic turner.

I've given them all placeholder names to hopefully remember which is which better than 1-12 or A-K.

So from left to right, top to bottom:

Pistachio, Chocolate Chip, Neopolitin, Vanilla Bean
Peanut Butter, Minty, Superman, Blue Moon
Wasabi, Rocky Road, Sprinkles, and Mocha

Root for your favorites!

 

[SueT]

Good luck!

 

[TwoCrows]

Beautiful eggs! Good luck with the hatch.

 

[LostBoi73]

Minty peanutbutter ! C'mon guys

 

[Kennas_Kritters]

Pistachio, chocolate chip, minty, blue moon and mocha. You can do it! Hatch babies hatch. Gorgeous eggs!

 

[Demonwolf37]

First candling on day 7, bleeding into day 8.

Sorry about the low picture quality, I could see a lot better with my eyes than I can actually make out on camera. I forgot to turn off my red nightlight before taking pictures, so they all have this red effect that I think may have interfered with the pictures. Also a few of them may be blurry due to my nervous shaking hands

I was able to confirm at least a little growth in all but three (four?) - two of which I suspect were because of the dark shell color, so a big on those.

So without any further ado, results of the first candling.

First up, Chocolate Chip, one of the Maran eggs. I was incredibly nervous that I wouldn't see anything in this first egg, both due to the dark color and my worry of no development, so I was very happy to see a dark spot.

Looking back after having candled the other eggs, I worry that this one isn't as developed as the others, but I'm sure that at least something has happened inside.

Notes: Cautiously optimistic, a little worried. Picture does not clearly show the dark spot, even with editing

Next up, Rocky Road. Similarly worried, and got similar results. A little more clear than Chocolate Chip that there was something developed, but again, looking back I did not see as much going on as I would have liked.

Notes: Cautiously optimistic, less worried than Chocolate Chip, but still worried.

Neopolitan, one of my favorites to make it. I forgot at the time which order these were in, so I was not nearly as nervous as I should have been, but things seem alright here. I could see some veining, which I could not get to show up in the picture even with editing, but you can clearly see that there's been development.

Note about both Neopolitan and Vanilla Bean, my two Jubilee Orpingtons and by far my lightest eggs: looking at the orientation here, I'm a little worried that I've let the eggs sit on their side too long and that this will effect their air sac and development. I've never hatched shipped eggs before and my incubator is set up with the eggs laying on their side. A later egg confirmed that the air sacs are still wobbly (and on the fat end where they belong), but I'm still going to worry. Maybe I should have put them upright in Dixie cups the first few days since I wasn't going to turn them anyway. Hopefully all is well, and they're turning every two hours now, so we'll have to see.

Notes: Picture, again not great, but definitely the most promising so far on this list.

Vanilla Bean! My other Jubilee Orpington and probably one of the best pictures out of the bunch, which is sad because it's blurry.

Again, can clearly see veining (well, I could, the picture less so) so definitely something happening there. Once again, very dark on one side and clear on the other which is a little odd. Nothing much else to say.

Notes: My most promising out of the bunch in terms of veining. You can kinda almost see veins in the B&W pic

Next up is Superman the Ameraucana, and the first egg I suspect to be a total failure. (Spoiler alert: Don't get your hopes up for either of the Ameraucanas)

This looks like a red ring of death to me. The picture doesn't convey it well, but it was REALLY red veins too. I'm going to keep it in for a few more days and see if there's any change, but I don't think this one made it.

Notes: Superman wasn't so OP after all

Blue Moon, another Ameraucana and another unfortunate egg.

This is the only egg that I could clearly see into and didn't see anything. Either there wasn't any development at all or development stopped almost immediately. Once again, I'm going to leave it in for a few more days JUST in case, but I have basically zero hope for this egg suddenly producing a chick.

Notes: Just nothing

Onto much lighter news, another favorite of mine (and the one that started the ice cream naming trend), our first olive egger, Minty!

Despite my immense nerves, this is by far the best non-Jubilee Orpington picture, and one of the few I'm confident to say is doing well!

Clear ball of something forming, veins, and I even might have seen some movement. I don't want to jinx it (knock on wood, good vibes, ), but I'm actually hopeful that my favorite might make it.

Notes: I like how the shape is looking, and I may have seen some movement (or maybe just my trembling hands) High hopes (knock on wood)

Next up, Mocha. The picture is ABSOLUTELY garbage, but I think I saw something myself that make me think there was some development. ...I don't remember what it was, but I didn't mark Mocha as a loss in my mind, so there must have been a dark patch that just isn't showing up on camera. Right?

Notes: Skeptical, very sceptical. Ignore the dark line, just a piece of straw stuck to the egg

Next, the big boy of the all the eggs, Peanut Butter.

Don't get too excited, because the pigment on this egg was so dark I could not see a single thing. Absolutely no light penetrated this shell. From any angle.

Notes: I tried, I swear

After that disappointing candle, we have Sprinkles - another one of my favorites.

Similar to Minty, we've got a decent shape which may indicate it's been developing up until this point. Little worried about how close to the butt end that development is - once again I worry that I've let them sit too long, but we'll see how things turn out.

Notes: A little high, but looking good otherwise

Next up, we have Wasabi. Overall, looking good! Nothing particularly outstanding to me, and the dark eggshell did not do me any favors, but I don't see any cause for concern here other than, once again, might be a little high up.

Notes: Also a little high, but all seems normal here

And finally, we end on another disappointing candle, Pistachio. Once again, basically no light shone through, so it's a bit of a mystery what's going on inside.

Notes: The absolute blurriest picture of them all. I was getting really nervous and just wanted to get them all covered up again, and it was pretty clear that even if I took a second picture, nothing would be visible. Ignore the dark spot, that's a feather stuck to the egg.

So, with that ordeal out of the way, all 12 eggs are back in the incubator (even the 2-3 suspected failures) and I'll check on those three sus ones again on day 10. If nothing has changed by then, I'll remove them and crack them open and see what went wrong.

Eggs are now turning every two hours, and I've had to start adding a bit of water to keep the humidity around 40%.

I DID end up solving my heat leak problem by wrapping a burrito blanket around the incubator and that's managed to keep my temperature consistently around 99.3-99.5 degrees. The incubator is in the same room as a pretty powerful air conditioner, so I'm not sure I can really blame the product.

Pictures are "enhanced" in different ways, whatever worked best with that particular egg to bring out any semblance of what I had actually seen. It mostly did not work, but hopefully next time turning off the red lamp in the room will help.

 

[Demonwolf37]

Day 10, update candling.

I remembered to turn off the red light today, but unfortunately the pictures are not any better.

Today I candled Chocolate Chip, Rocky Road, Superman, Blue Moon, and Mocha to check for signs of further development.

So, starting with Chocolate Chip. There was definitely some new development, but once again, not a whole lot. You can see in the picture two slightly darker spots that weren't there before.

So something has changed for sure, but it also doesn't look super... normal. The egg is not very large, so I would not guess double yolked. But there was a change, so I'm leaving Chocolate Chip in for now.

It's possible that development was delayed a bit due to the slightly lower temperature the first day and a half while I was trying to stop heat loss.

Notes: Weird, but technically progress

Next up, Rocky Road. Definitely some progress here! Glad to see a significant change from last candling only a few days ago.

Notes: I can even start to clearly see the air cell!

Superman! I was expecting to see absolutely nothing changed, so boy was I surprised to see a definite dark spot.

Again, not where it should be at day 10, but I'm once again assuming temperature had an affect here.

Notes: Maybe Superman is OP after all

Blue Moon. I was planning on cracking this one open today, but instead I'm slightly confused.

It's DEFINITELY got a slight dark spot now. This absolutely baffles me. I was positive that this one was empty and I wasn't going to see any change.

Once again, no where near where it should be, so I'm very skeptical about this. Maybe I'm hallucinating. But even comparing the photos, even though you can't see much, this one is definitely darker than the original unedited pic (at the end of the post I put the day 7 and day 10 pics side by side)

Notes: Will check again in day 14 with the others. I'm very suspicious.

Finally, Mocha. I was so convinced that I'd seen something, but nope, nothing. Still no change whatsoever, so this one got cracked open.

It was definitely fertilized (can just barely see what's left of a bullseye in the pic), but it never began developing.

Apologies for the dirty bowl I put it in, but I offered it to my kitties as a treat. It didn't smell off, their noses are much better than mine and they didn't find it offensive, so I figure it safe enough to give them one egg. I don't like letting anything go to waste, and they certainly enjoyed it.

Notes: First official loss

Next candling is on day 14 (Sunday), where I may give a final determination on Chocolate Chip, Superman, and Blue Moon.

EXTRA: Blue Moon day 7 and day 10 side-by-side.

Neither are edited. The second one is definitely darker, right? I'll give it a few more days. Why are these eggs so wildly different in their development?

 

[LostBoi73]

Possibly temp variations in different parts of your incubator?

 

[Demonwolf37]

Possibly temp variations in different parts of your incubator?

It's possible, but I think unlikely because of the size/shape of the incubator and how the eggs are arranged. Plus, the two Ameraucana eggs are right next to my thermometer/hygrometer, so I assume they'd have the most accurate results, but they're the most behind (still not positive Blue Moon is actually developing or not tbh...)

The incubator is set up in a cabinet in the bedroom (to keep safe from cats and so I can hear it beeping if the temperature alarm goes off). There's a pretty powerful air conditioner facing the cabinet, but the incubator is not only inside and not getting direct airflow, but also wrapped in a blanket. But, as it happens, my 4 "problem" eggs are either on the side facing the air conditioner or the side where the cabinet opens. It could be a coincidence (especially for the two facing the air conditioner considering there's a pile of clothes and also a wall between them and the AC air), but maybe it is causing a slight drop in temp that's slowing down those eggs.

Maybe I'll wrap another blanket around the incubator. I have another small one, lol

 

[Demonwolf37]

Day 14 update.

Got some better pictures this time around, so let's get straight to it.

Chocolate Chip.

Almost no change. Whatever was happening in here was not growth. Removed from the incubator and cracked open. There wasn't really much inside, a single fleshy spot, but no veins at all.

Notes: Chocolate Chip gave up very early on it seems.

Rocky Road!

Definitely progress here, and a lot closer to what I expect to see at day 14.

Notes: Air cell is larger than I'd like it to be at this point, so I've added some water to the incubator to reel it back just a bit.

Neopolitan!

One of my favorites and I'm glad to see they're doing well. Again, a fairly large air cell, but that should hopefully resolve itself.

Notes: Looked really pretty!

Vanilla Bean!

Not much to say, large air cell, visible veining. Looks good!

Notes: Clearly defined

Next up are the two Ameraucana eggs, Superman and Blue Moon.

No change whatsoever. Removed from incubation and cracked open. I had a really hard time getting these open, the membrane was really dense on both of these. It just didn't want to tear. I got egg on my fingers both times.

Superman had a fleshy lump, but not very large, and some blood. Blue Moon was just orange sludge. I wonder if it was infection after all, and I hope that leaving them in to be sure didn't cause any problems with the others.

Notes: Did not feed either of these to kitty.

Next up is Minty, and probably my favorite.

I'm worried. They should be further along than this, and I think it might be another early quitter.

Notes: Next candle is only in 4 days, I'm going to give Minty every chance to improve before then.

Peanut Butter!

Previously I couldn't see into this egg at all, but I actually got a bit of a glimpse. I couldn't see much, but there is definitely development here, so I'll take that as a good sign!

Notes: Still very dark, but I do see progress!

Next up, Sprinkles.

Similar to Minty, they should be further along by now, so I'm nervous that both my super speckled eggs are no-gos.

Notes: I'm giving them until lockdown to improve.

Wasabi!

Very dark, but does look to be about where they should be.

Notes: This air cell is closer to where I'd like it to be, but still a tiny bit big.

Pistachio! Another one that previously I couldn't see into.

I couldn't see anything initially, but after some rotating, I did actually see the faint edge of an air cell! I even got it on camera too! Still a fairly large air cell, and clearly saddled, but I can work with that.

Notes: About where we should be!

So, to summarize, we've officially lost 4 out of 12 eggs (Mocha, Chocolate Chip, Superman, and Blue Moon), and I'm very iffy about 2 more (Minty , and Sprinkles).

Minty and Sprinkles have until day 17 to shape up - Wednesday the 28th - and then it's lockdown.

I really hope in wrong about Minty and Sprinkles - my two super speckled eggs!

Prior to lockdown I'll be punching breathing holes into the air cells because a lot of them have that saddled shape, and I don't want to take any chances. Depending on where the humidity is at day 17 after I add the water, I may also add a wet sponge with humidity, and open the vent all the way for better airflow. I'll be ready to assist if I think it may be needed, but I have decent hopes here (knock on wood).

Hoping for the best!