This is the first time we have tried to incubate eggs. We have an automatic set up that rotates them with a fan, heater, and a thermostat. Being newbies, we collected eggs from our hens after we knew the rooster was doing his duty. My hens are older, at around 3 years, but we ate the wonky-shaped eggs and eggs with calcium deposits, and incubated the best looking ones.
We candled the eggs very occasionally weeding out at around day 12 the ones that weren't growing or showed bacteria rings or were just porous looking and empty. This, along with other weblinks and youtube videos were really helpful: http://shilala.homestead.com/candling.html
We had to go out of town a week ago, and instructed a neighbor girl in how to add water to the incubator each day. When we came home, the lid was not properly closed. It wasn't hanging off or gaping open, it just wasn't snugly shut. The temp was at 99; not too far below 99.5 but we didn't know how badly that affected the humidity level.
We candled the eggs on day 18 and they all looked like they did before we left; I couldn't tell if they were any larger, but a few had some rings that I couldn't distinguish. Not sure if they were dead chicks with bacteria rings or just the line where the peep ended and the air pocket began. None exploded or anything, so we took them out of the automatic turner on the right day and have been watching through the plastic window all day today for any signs of rocking or pipping.
Nothing! I do know they can take up to 25 days to hatch, but given our episode with the neighbor girl, do you think it's hopeless? We've upped the humidity and leaving the eggs alone, I don't dare handle them anymore. I'm using a pretty powerful, slim LED flashlight but I don't know how great it is, I'm not sure if I've ever been able to distinguish a heartbeat or anything like that.
We candled the eggs very occasionally weeding out at around day 12 the ones that weren't growing or showed bacteria rings or were just porous looking and empty. This, along with other weblinks and youtube videos were really helpful: http://shilala.homestead.com/candling.html
We had to go out of town a week ago, and instructed a neighbor girl in how to add water to the incubator each day. When we came home, the lid was not properly closed. It wasn't hanging off or gaping open, it just wasn't snugly shut. The temp was at 99; not too far below 99.5 but we didn't know how badly that affected the humidity level.
We candled the eggs on day 18 and they all looked like they did before we left; I couldn't tell if they were any larger, but a few had some rings that I couldn't distinguish. Not sure if they were dead chicks with bacteria rings or just the line where the peep ended and the air pocket began. None exploded or anything, so we took them out of the automatic turner on the right day and have been watching through the plastic window all day today for any signs of rocking or pipping.
Nothing! I do know they can take up to 25 days to hatch, but given our episode with the neighbor girl, do you think it's hopeless? We've upped the humidity and leaving the eggs alone, I don't dare handle them anymore. I'm using a pretty powerful, slim LED flashlight but I don't know how great it is, I'm not sure if I've ever been able to distinguish a heartbeat or anything like that.
