*CHICKS are HERE!!!* Egg Candling Pics: Progression Though Incubation

[Sambi89]

My first hatch actually went pretty well, especially considering all of the eggs were shipped through the mail. Overall I got a 69% hatch rate from lockdown, with 55% of the eggs I purchased hatching. I didn't do a "dry hatch", but did lower the humidity to between 45% and 50% for the first 17 days, and then raised it on day 18. I never weighed any of the eggs at any point as I didn't learn about doing that until after I had already put the eggs in the incubator. 

I'll be performing another incubation beginning this Saturday. I intend to weigh each egg before and during the process as well as candling and adjust humidity accordingly. I'll probably keep the humidity around 40% this time to start. I've conversed with a few AZ people who routinely incubate and hatch eggs who've said that they've had great success going as low as 30-35% humidity for the first 17-18 days, but I don't think I've got that much courage yet. Oh, and I candled at 7, 10, 14 and 18 days. It was a big help.

Good luck!
[/quote]



Thank you so so much! I'm going out of my mind with the eggs I have in the incubator right now lol! maybe after doing this a few times I'll be more confident.

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Thanks chicken lady, I am leaving them but was wondering if the air cell would be on the side since I was laying them on the side. I am indeed turning about every 5 or 6 hours. I'll be candling either later tonight or tomorrow wooot!

Hi mamakitty, if the air cells are visible at the side of the egg you have a problem. The only time I've seen that is with shipped eggs. They get handled so roughly that the air cell can detach from the top of the fat end of the egg and when you tilt the egg on its side the detached air will move to the side of the egg instead of staying on the top. I'm hoping that is not the case for you. If you candle tonight hold the egg upright, fat end up and shine your light at the top of the egg. You should see the air cell. Very gently tilt egg while shining the light on it still. The air cell should not shift, if it does than you have a detached air cell. If you have a detached air cell you need to incubate the eggs upright in a cut down egg carton and don't turn the eggs for 2 days. Hopefully the air cell will re-attach. Make sure you cut out part of the bottom of the carton so humidity can still get to the eggs. These eggs will need to remain upright thru the whole hatch and after 2 full days resting you will need to very gently tilt the egg from one side to the other side of the egg carton hole. Do this 5 times a day. Just handle very gently. The gentle tilt from side to side will keep the chick from sticking on one side or other. Another name for detached air cell eggs is a wonky air cell egg. I sure hope your hatch goes smoothly. If you have any other questions don't hesitate to ask. If at all possible try to tilt or turn your eggs every 2 to 3 hours. Never stopping on the same side of the egh at the end of the day. Otherwise your chick would spend all the night hours on just one side of the egg. If you did that for 18 days the chick would probably end up malpositioned in the egg.

 

[Pretty Chickens]

Thanks to ZooMummzy, I am doing a test run of my little plywood bator and her little rooster! And I'll be sharing pics! These images are all taken using a point and shoot Canon Powershot 710IS, and the light from an eagle tac set on high output. Photos are in real colors unless otherwise noted.

Click thumbnails for larger image!

The incubator:



It's got a clear top for hatch day viewing and two lightbulbs covered in foil because I was too cheap to buy ceramic heat lamps. The reason behind two bulbs is in case one light bulb burns out the incubator won't go cold. It has a salvaged computer fan and uses a salvaged GQF thermostat. There are about 8 layers of spar urethane coating the little beast so it's water tight. Started making it when I was about 13, so if I were to do it again, it would be much larger and have space planned for a fan/thermostat.

Temperature is measured with a Fluke digital multimeter with thermometer attachment, and humidity is measured via wet/dry bulb methodology.



0 hrs Note that with a bight enough light you can see though brown and green eggs easily. Shell thickness and egg size will impact image quality, so note these are bantam eggs.




This is a great example of a porous egg, not ideal for hatching.




28hrs Not much to see though the egg at this point. If you were to open the egg and look at it under a dissection microscope, you'd see that the head/neural fold has formed, and up to 4 pairs of somites. (Somites are mesodermal cells which migrate and give rise to tissues such as muscle, bone, and cartilage. Note the number on the egg, it serves as tracking and to know which side is "up" as I am hand turning 3x a day.




52 hrs If you look closely, you can see the start of the blood island in the middle of the egg. The heart is actively beating by this time and has started to turn; the heart starts out as a tube during development.

May be easier to see after photoshop, it's that darker ring on top of the yolk shadow





76 hrs At this point, limb buds have not only formed but are enlarging and the eye is beginning to become pigmented.


Some photo editing and you can really see the veins!


Schematic




100 hrs The limbs are now starting to look like limbs and the embryo starts to look like what a common person would say is an embryo.


Enhanced to see veins




Day5 On this day, the beak has just become viable and the chick's limb buds are no longer buds and instead will have identifiable digits! The black dot is the eye.



Edited to enhance veins



A day 3 or so quitter



Profile view and you can see the veins in my finger too.




Day6 It gets harder to take clear vein pics, as there is enough vascularization that it gets a bit washed out.


Enhanced image.


Embryo Movement Clip


Day 7 If you were to open them up, you'd see little specks where future feathers would emerge!




Day 8





Day 9






Day 10





Day 11




Video



Day 12




Day 13 If you opened them up, you'd see claws forming!








Day 14 It's so dark there is pretty much nothing really to see! Just a bit of space left





Day 15




Video


Day 16 You can see toes in the second one!



Toes video

Day 17





Day 18 Lock down!!!! Since there is plenty of space in the bator, I made little paper cups to put each egg in. Hopefully this will catch the majority of the hatch junk left over from popping out so clean up is a bit easier.





HATCH DAY Note, there is no plan to open the bator for the next 48 hours. The top is clear so all the action can be seen without compromising the hatch!
Pips



First to hatch: About 14 hours after the first pip at 4am. Note the clean hatch and absence of any blood in the shell. It was ready!


Hatch Video

Second to hatch: About 17 hours after the pip at 4am. Could have piped any time between 11pm and 4 am though. Another clean hatch.


Note the first vid is part of the zipping. The pip to zip can literally be hours to days, but usually, once it starts to zip and sets out to get out, the shifting and cracking process is about 20-30 mintues.
Zipping

This one gets to the point more.
Hatching


30 hours after the first pip, the hatch is now complete! This is about my average time to hatch. I've had some take even longer so there really is no rushing the little guys.
There were 7 fertile eggs that made it to day 3. All 7 hatched on their own without opening the bator between day 18 though post hatch and fluff.


Post hatch shell interior. Note that all the vessels are gone and it's just pink. Not a single drop of blood. The little blob in the bottom is the chick wastes from development; think of it as embryo poo.


And now the best part! The chicks!!!



The chicks have learned how to drink from a hamster water bottle.

Great information. Thanks Lovely pictures

 

[claricevampire]

One of my first hatches I thought a vein was a blood ring but I decided to leave the egg in just in case I was wrong , well I was wrong , turned out to be one of my favorite hens , sometimes you just can't give up .

 

[buggal]

This is a great source of information. I am new to chickens and incubating. Right now, I have my first set of eggs in the incubator right now. I love all the pics and how you tell in the thread what is going on and what we are looking at. You don't know how helpful this really is to me and all the other newbies out there.
Thanks again,
Lisa

 

[TLCMidMichigan]

I have 48 Black Copper Marans set in the incubator. Their on day 10 right now.
I did some candling on some. Some match the pictures. Others don't. I'll wait till the time of hatch to see.
Nice presentation by the way.

 

[aart]

Question:
Do you cull eggs that aren’t developing? I have a broody sitting on a large clutch. I’d like to cull if I can be more positive about which have quit to give her less to sit on.

Yep, I pull 'duds' at about 10-14 days...as soon as I'm sure they are duds.

 

[ScottKelly1974]

Question:
Do you cull eggs that aren’t developing? I have a broody sitting on a large clutch. I’d like to cull if I can be more positive about which have quit to give her less to sit on.

Yes, every week. I've had broody hens before. I think the best time to check is at night. You probably should mark each egg so you know what has been checked.
For me, I have been using an incubator. Depending on how often you need to add water is when I check the eggs. I figured if it's going to be open for adding water, it's the best time to check. This way they stay undisturbed as long as possible.

 

[Chaos11793]

Just for fun. Baby duck with just a half week to hatch. View attachment 1736648

THIS is the best picture EVER!

 

[Pollmadoll]

Thanks to ZooMummzy, I am doing a test run of my little plywood bator and her little rooster! And I'll be sharing pics! These images are all taken using a point and shoot Canon Powershot 710IS, and the light from an eagle tac set on high output. Photos are in real colors unless otherwise noted.

Click thumbnails for larger image!

The incubator:



It's got a clear top for hatch day viewing and two lightbulbs covered in foil because I was too cheap to buy ceramic heat lamps. The reason behind two bulbs is in case one light bulb burns out the incubator won't go cold. It has a salvaged computer fan and uses a salvaged GQF thermostat. There are about 8 layers of spar urethane coating the little beast so it's water tight. Started making it when I was about 13, so if I were to do it again, it would be much larger and have space planned for a fan/thermostat.

Temperature is measured with a Fluke digital multimeter with thermometer attachment, and humidity is measured via wet/dry bulb methodology.



0 hrs Note that with a bight enough light you can see though brown and green eggs easily. Shell thickness and egg size will impact image quality, so note these are bantam eggs.




This is a great example of a porous egg, not ideal for hatching.




28hrs Not much to see though the egg at this point. If you were to open the egg and look at it under a dissection microscope, you'd see that the head/neural fold has formed, and up to 4 pairs of somites. (Somites are mesodermal cells which migrate and give rise to tissues such as muscle, bone, and cartilage. Note the number on the egg, it serves as tracking and to know which side is "up" as I am hand turning 3x a day.




52 hrs If you look closely, you can see the start of the blood island in the middle of the egg. The heart is actively beating by this time and has started to turn; the heart starts out as a tube during development.

May be easier to see after photoshop, it's that darker ring on top of the yolk shadow





76 hrs At this point, limb buds have not only formed but are enlarging and the eye is beginning to become pigmented.


Some photo editing and you can really see the veins!


Schematic




100 hrs The limbs are now starting to look like limbs and the embryo starts to look like what a common person would say is an embryo.


Enhanced to see veins




Day5 On this day, the beak has just become viable and the chick's limb buds are no longer buds and instead will have identifiable digits! The black dot is the eye.



Edited to enhance veins



A day 3 or so quitter



Profile view and you can see the veins in my finger too.




Day6 It gets harder to take clear vein pics, as there is enough vascularization that it gets a bit washed out.


Enhanced image.


Embryo Movement Clip


Day 7 If you were to open them up, you'd see little specks where future feathers would emerge!




Day 8





Day 9






Day 10





Day 11




Video



Day 12




Day 13 If you opened them up, you'd see claws forming!








Day 14 It's so dark there is pretty much nothing really to see! Just a bit of space left





Day 15




Video


Day 16 You can see toes in the second one!



Toes video

Day 17





Day 18 Lock down!!!! Since there is plenty of space in the bator, I made little paper cups to put each egg in. Hopefully this will catch the majority of the hatch junk left over from popping out so clean up is a bit easier.





HATCH DAY Note, there is no plan to open the bator for the next 48 hours. The top is clear so all the action can be seen without compromising the hatch!
Pips



First to hatch: About 14 hours after the first pip at 4am. Note the clean hatch and absence of any blood in the shell. It was ready!


Hatch Video

Second to hatch: About 17 hours after the pip at 4am. Could have piped any time between 11pm and 4 am though. Another clean hatch.


Note the first vid is part of the zipping. The pip to zip can literally be hours to days, but usually, once it starts to zip and sets out to get out, the shifting and cracking process is about 20-30 mintues.
Zipping

This one gets to the point more.
Hatching


30 hours after the first pip, the hatch is now complete! This is about my average time to hatch. I've had some take even longer so there really is no rushing the little guys.
There were 7 fertile eggs that made it to day 3. All 7 hatched on their own without opening the bator between day 18 though post hatch and fluff.


Post hatch shell interior. Note that all the vessels are gone and it's just pink. Not a single drop of blood. The little blob in the bottom is the chick wastes from development; think of it as embryo poo.


And now the best part! The chicks!!!



The chicks have learned how to drink from a hamster water bottle.