Candling Eggs! Success? Or Fail?

[speckledhen]

As far as humidity goes, I have had successful hatches and I try to keep my humidity right at 50% all the way up till Day 18. Then I raise it up to between 65-70%. It works well for me. Too large an aircell would indicate too low a humidity or either the chick isn't viable in the first place, perhaps dying somewhere along the way. There are so many factors in hatching eggs-not always a humidity issue. I find that can vary alot and still have a good hatch. The temp is what has to be right.

 

[silkiechicken]

I say top and bottom have a chance. I've had lots of porous eggs hatch... even eggs with hair line cracks on them hatch... As for humidity, just watch the air cell. 70 for the whole hatch is too high. I personally don't monitor my humidity. Fill the bottom for the first week or so and then let them all go for the last week or so with no added water so they hatch at very low humidity just fine. Too high humidity or too much throughout hatch can cause a chick which is too large to move and ends up not making it out of the shell.

I agree with speckledhen though, humidity is lower on the list of things that will cause a poor hatch. It can't be that important if I never measure it while hatching chicks. Here is a photo of my eggs at the same age as yours. I had to take them in a room with lights on so it's not as clear as I can get it. You should see those big veins in them so that's a good sign.

Oh, and humidity doesn't affect the hardness of shells. Soak a chicken egg shell in water for a month and it's not gong to get soft unless the water is slightly acidic. It's made of calcium carbonate.

But... as with most things, you have to do a few batches and find out what works for you. What works for some may never work for others. Good luck!

 

[Krazy]

You said none of them will hatch but I saw one with something moving inside of it. Also silkiechicken how did you make it so you can see everything inside? My flash light is very bright but It doesn't go all the way through. Like if something was blocking it.

 

[Krazy]

Im thinking maybe I missed counted the days? Since most of the eggs are like the first picture.

 

[silkiechicken]

I say let them be for another few days and I bet you'll have chicks in no time! Movement is a great sign of life!

The egg you see pictured is a white egg so the shell is pretty clear. I can get similar pictures with brown eggs but they are a bit dimmer. This is the flashlight I use:

^click picture^

And it has a LED upgrade to make it painfully bright if you accidentally flash yourself with it. I can shine the light up at the tops of big evergreen trees and you can see the beam on it.

It's like a mini spotlight.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

I used a flood light under a box with a small hole in it. Its a great last minute fix if you dont want to go buy something. Worked wonders.

Oh and i have never had any success hatching eggs if the humidity was below 70% so there is a reason why i say humidity has to be higher. And during the hatching process the eggs were hard as rocks so humidity does effect the hardness of the egg, at least in my incubator. I suppose everything would vary though according to the incubator you have.

 

[Krazy]

I have a STILL AIR Incubator with Auto Turner

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, it's hard to say what will work and not work for may people. Especially since the weather/conditions where everyone lives is so different! I bet I can get away with the no water thing because the ambient humidity is usually pretty high, in the 40-50 range usually... provided it's not at the 100% of the 250 or so days of the year that is is drizzling.

Running your bator in a room with A/C will cause humidity to get too low too so that is a factor in hatching. I would say that if you have a still air, you need to make sure there is extra water in there vs a forced air because there is no moving air to increase the rate of evaporation. Can you post a picture of the aircell, then we can judge on how the humidity looks so far.

I hope they make it!

 

[Krazy]

I need a better flashlight first.