Candled without touching...my compromise

[kvmommy]

I just candled at day 10 by holding a flashlight up to the egg without actually holding the egg...I have only 4 eggs that are really light enough to easily see. And I have 4 blood rings.

I'm so disappointed. I know that the 20 other eggs could be just fine but 4 of 4 of the light eggs makes me have my doubts. They look like they stopped developing around day 4-8 ish.

My husband, always the joker, tried to cheer me up. He is truly convinced I have a black thumb and that I have a tendency to kill things (plants, fish, reptiles). So he wasn't sure this was a good venture anyway. So, today he went to the store and came home with an adorable kitchen floor mat with a rooster and hen on it. Then tells me, its probably the closest thing I'll ever have to a chicken, so he had to buy it for me. It really did cheer me up.

 

[Baralak]

ok..How far along are they?

 

[kvmommy]

They are 11 days now, and I candled yesterday.

 

[Baralak]

Ah.. these are the ones with the bad air sacs.. I would wait a few more days... then decide on tossing.. Even with a bad air sac I would still hold the egg. Just do it so the small end is down. Remind me of what type of bator you have? If it is a still air make sure your temps are 101F on top of the eggs, if forced (has a fan) then it needs to be 99.5 ish.

 

[M@M@2four]

Quote:
Awwww....

Are you for sure they're blood rings? I would candle the rest. I do the same thing--I candle them in the tray, so I don't actually pick them up. With a good little flashlight, you should see veining or no veining. And if it makes you feel any better, my first couple sets of eggs I tried to hatch out in the incubator never made it. The sad part was these were pretty expensive eggs I had shipped to me(don't know what I was thinking) and unfortunately, several almost made it, but I did something wrong and messed up several hatches--not one chick! It was SO disappointing! I almost quit. Now, several years later, I've hatched out literally thousands of chicks(I now own a cabinet incubator, but hatched out tons in my styrofoam when I had it)! What kind of incubator are you using? The reason I ask is I owne a styrofoam hovabator which I loved and had many sucessful hatches, so I bought an strofoam LG as well--you know I never hatched one egg out in that thing?!? I couldn't get anything to hatch in it--it was horrible, so I sold it! Some people have no problems with them, but I hated mined!!! Were these eggs you had shipped? If so, something could have happened to them in transit. Or, if they were your own, they may have gotten too cold before you collected. Could be your temps. What are your temps set to? If you're using a styrofoam incubator, don't trust the little cheap thermometer it comes with! They're never accurate!!! Go to walmart and buy a digital thermometer/hydrogometer. They're less than $5(they're square and have a littel magnet on the back). I used to set mine in the window just right so I could always check the temps and humidity. Good luck and DON'T give up!!!