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

[ChickenLady2014]

The eggs should not be exploding on day 2.  They must have been bad when you got them.  If I were you I'd get rid of all of them since you don't know if they were in the nest for a few days before you got them...or  a month.  

X2

 

[DesertChic]

I just candled my incubating NN eggs for the first time last night at 6 days. Out of 24 eggs, only 2 were not viable (so far). I'm so excited!!!

 

[Sambi89]

Great to hear it DesertChic! I'm from southern Utah and I've just started to incubate and It's hard to find info for that climate so I love to hear that you're having success!

 

[DesertChic]

Great to hear it DesertChic! I'm from southern Utah and I've just started to incubate and It's hard to find info for that climate so I love to hear that you're having success!

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!

 

[MamaKitty913]

Hi I have a question I'm doing a sideways hatch candling on day 5 (never hatched before) do the chicks float during incubation? Will I see air pockets with sideway hatch? Thanks

 

[HeatherJoe]

I myself am a pretty new hatcher ( it is a learning experience for sure ) & I have to say that this article has helped us ALOT!!!!! We currently have 2 chicken eggs about ready to stop turning ( tomorrow 2-6-15 ) & then about a week from when the chicks hatch ( hopefully ) we will have a baby turkey hatch ( hopefully ). I refer to this article all the time!!!!! we candled at 5,9,12,16 & will candle one last time tomorrow morning before they stop getting turned ( about 7pm )..... I cant thank you enough for posting this article!!!!!!!

 

[ChickenLady2014]

Hi I have a question I'm doing a sideways hatch candling on day 5 (never hatched before) do the chicks float during incubation? Will I see air pockets with sideway hatch? Thanks

Couple questions mamakitty, you are incubating with them laying flat, correct? You are hand turning them about 5 times a day, making sure to not stop on the same side everyday on the last turn, right? When you are talking about the aircell when candling, you aren't seeing it on the side of the egg, correct? If so that is called a detached air cell. If your just wondering about candling you can hold them upright and place a flashlight against the fat end of the egg and you should see a small air cell. You will probably see some veining started in the eggs that are fertile, but sometimes waiting to candle until day 7 is easier to see the veins. Hope I've helped, good luck!

 

[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!
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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.

 

[DesertChic]

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!

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.[/QUOTE]

LOL....I just about had an anxiety attack with my first hatch. When days 21 and 22 came and went without any hatchings I was sure I'd managed to kill all of the chicks. My husband woke me up at 3 A.M. on day 23 all excited to tell me there were two chicks flopping around inside the incubator. We stood over those eggs for over an hour awaiting more hatching before the fatigue overwhelmed the adrenalin rush. It took two days for my eggs to hatch and I don't think I slept more than three or four hours in those two days. Our entire weekend was dominated by hatching eggs. I'm pretty sure I got more rest birthing my own son than I did those chicks.

 

[Sambi89]

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[COLOR=0000FF]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.[/COLOR][/quote]

LOL....I just about had an anxiety attack with my first hatch. When days 21 and 22 came and went without any hatchings I was sure I'd managed to kill all of the chicks. My husband woke me up at 3 A.M. on day 23 all excited to tell me there were two chicks flopping around inside the incubator. We stood over those eggs for over an hour awaiting more hatching before the fatigue overwhelmed the adrenalin rush. It took two days for my eggs to hatch and I don't think I slept more than three or four hours in those two days. Our entire weekend was dominated by hatching eggs. I'm pretty sure I got more rest birthing my own son than I did those chicks. 
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I'll have to tell my husband I'm not the only one ! I think he's said they'll be fine at least 400 times in the last few days.