Day 14 incubation and no movement!!!

[rbailey]

Im hatching eggs for the first time and no on day 14. my temps and humidity are good and i rotate 3 times a day but hen i candle them i see a mass inside that moves around as i rotate the egg. i see no veins though. the egg is brown so i thought maybe it as just hard to see veins but no movement either. are they bad eggs? its from a rir and bcm roo.

 

[goosiesnougs]

Maybe not fertile? I've only candled silkie eggs and its quite easy to see. Is the room very dark? And the flashlight very strong? Maybe it would help to do it in a closet?

 

[kuchchicks]

BCM eggs can be VERY difficult to candle. I am currently incubating 36 right now myself. I am only on day 7. Last year a did a batch and was not able to much inside the eggs during the entire incubation period. It does not mean your eggs are bad. My suggestion would be to just keep doing what you are doing. Leave the eggs in place unless they start to smell. If they do smell, remove them. Otherwise, leave them in there until your projected hatch hatch day (even a little beyond).

Just a few quick questions though... are you using a bator with or without a fan? What are you running your temp and humidity at? How many thermometers and hygrometers are you using? Did you calibrate them prior to use?

 

[rbailey]

I candle them with a bright flashlight in my walkin closet. I have a digital thermometer and it shows temp and humidity which have stayed at 99-101 and 35-45%. I does not have a fan..its a Styrofoam cooler I made. I haven't smelled any bad odor yet so thats a good sign. I didn't do a test of the incubator beforehand, I just plugged it up and put them inside straight from the coop...im hoping they are just running late . Thank you guys.

 

[goosiesnougs]

I think the "cooler" should run a little higher 102F? Without the circulation of air you get with a fan. I'd keep with it and until something smells or oozes they may just be a little delayed due to the lower temps. I wish you all the luck in the world. Those dark eggs are hard for even the most seasoned hatched

 

[kuchchicks]

x2!

When you run without a fan you want the temp to be around 102F at the top of the eggs; There was a post on here last week in which the same thing happened. The eggs did end up hatching but were 3 days late. I would not give up hope on your batch yet but I would increase the temp. I would also make sure that you have at least 2 thermometers monitoring your temp. You can easily calibrate them and I would even do it now even though you are 2/3 through your incubation. If you search this site it will give you detailed directions on how to do it. Humidity is also important. Normally I say to use your hygrometer as a baseline and then go off of what your air cells look like. But since your shells are so dark you may never get to see your air cells.

In this case though I really do think your biggest problem is low heat. With that said thought, if you could see through your eggs you normally can visualize blood vessels as early as 3 days but most definitely by day 7.

With the BCM eggs that I am doing now, I do candle them to try to see growth, but even if I don't I will not toss any of these eggs unless they smell because they are hard to visualize. My normal hatch rate is between 87%-94%. Historically I have had difficulty hatching BCM eggs, and I have seen many people on this site saying the same thing.

Good luck!

 

[rbailey]

Thank you all so much...very helpful advice...ill let y'all know if I have babies soon... not giving up!