candling question

[CluckNDoodle]

I’m only on Day 4 and I’m waiting impatiently haha. I did candle one today to give me some peace of mind. It’s growing, yay.

The built in thermometer is reading 99.5-100.2 (shifts throughout the day) but my separate one is showing 95-96 degrees so I’m confused which one to believe since they are growing and I don’t want to fry them by turning up the heat. So I may just wait it out and learn any lessons during my first hatch.

This is a great article on calibrating thermometers.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...incubator-thermometers-and-hygrometers.73634/

 

[Kiki]

I’m only on Day 4 and I’m waiting impatiently haha. I did candle one today to give me some peace of mind. It’s growing, yay.

The built in thermometer is reading 99.5-100.2 (shifts throughout the day) but my separate one is showing 95-96 degrees so I’m confused which one to believe since they are growing and I don’t want to fry them by turning up the heat. So I may just wait it out and learn any lessons during my first hatch.

Hurry up and calibrate the separate therm now.

 

[hysop]

Hurry up and calibrate the separate therm now.

I realized I bought a thermometer that can’t be calibrated the way people recommend since it’s battery operated. I guess I need to buy one I can submerge in cold and hot water to calibrate. I’ll have my husband buy one sooner rather than later.

 

[hysop]

I did test it out in my living room. My house thermometer said 72 degrees and that one was reading at 73.

the place the thermometer is sitting at now is lower than the eggs. I know heat rises. So maybe that’s why it’s reading low?

but I shall buy another one asap.

 

[chickens really]

I just remove all eggs into a flat container on towels and go to my bathroom to Candle all eggs. Incubator is closed and ready for my return. It's simple..

 

[Kiki]

I did test it out in my living room. My house thermometer said 72 degrees and that one was reading at 73.

the place the thermometer is sitting at now is lower than the eggs. I know heat rises. So maybe that’s why it’s reading low?

but I shall buy another one asap.

Can you move this thermometer and lay it on top of the eggs?

 

[TriskeleFarm]

SO I candled them all, and only had a few that looked viable. One for sure had a nice healthy looking embryo, a couple others had nice veins and a dark spot (maybe laid a couple days later than the one). some looked completely clear, or maybe had a dark spot but no veining, some had the blood ring that I believe means a dead embryo?
These were shipped eggs so I'm not super surprised most aren't doing well. sad, but not surprised. my 6 marans eggs that were just set a couple days ago are much harder to see anything in. I will wait another week for those.

Do you all remove the noticeably bad eggs right away?

 

[hysop]

Can you move this thermometer and lay it on top of the eggs?

it is lightweight enough to set on top of the eggs. I just didn’t know if it was okay to do that, but I’ll test it out and see and report back if the temperature reading changes at all.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

SO I candled them all, and only had a few that looked viable. One for sure had a nice healthy looking embryo, a couple others had nice veins and a dark spot (maybe laid a couple days later than the one). some looked completely clear, or maybe had a dark spot but no veining, some had the blood ring that I believe means a dead embryo?
These were shipped eggs so I'm not super surprised most aren't doing well. sad, but not surprised. my 6 marans eggs that were just set a couple days ago are much harder to see anything in. I will wait another week for those.

Do you all remove the noticeably bad eggs right away?

Yes, blood rings are common with early quitters. If you're positive of the eggs that are no good then there's no reason to leave it in the incubator. If you have some you're unsure of, you can put a question mark on it and check just the "?" eggs in a few days to see if anything has changed. I always do a sniff test to make sure it's not a ticking time bomb though.

 

[AgnesGray]

I second @CluckNDoodle about the helpfulness of a hatch-a-long. I'm on day 7 of my third hatch and have learned a lot in the February HAL.