Differences In Incubating Dark Eggs Vs. Light Eggs?

[ZZZ]

Hello! Please forgive me and re-route me if I'm posting in the wrong place, or this has already been covered... I'm new here, and did my best to search for this topic but couldn't find it. I'm wondering about potential differences in incubating dark eggs vs. light eggs.

I've read that dark eggs can be more difficult to incubate/hatch, mostly due to tricky visibility with candling, but do they actually develop/react differently? I'm in lockdown on my first hatch; Day 21 to be exact! Going into lockdown, I had 11 great looking viable eggs (as far as I could tell with light and water candling, air cell development, movement, etc.): 7 dark eggs (Black Copper Marans and Olive Eggers) and 4 light eggs (Cream Legbar and Super Blue). (I've since read that it's wise to purchase less expensive barnyard mixes when trying incubation for the first time, but it was too late for me. That would have been smart! Ha!) Heading into Day 22, 5 out of 7 chicks from the dark eggs have hatched with no problems (as far as my untrained eye can tell), but there is not a single pip on any of the 4 light eggs!? There have been a couple issues that I have dealt with as best I could -- so grateful for all the AWESOME help available here!! -- one being a Day 19 power outage that lasted an hour, and the humidity has shot up to nearly 90% a few times during lockdown. (My only recourse is to open the lid and remove shells, wipe down condensation, etc. There is little to no water in the tray, and this incubator seems extremely sensitive when it comes to humidity.) Could it be that the darker eggs' shells create a bit more of a protective barrier for temperature and humidity swings, that better maintains a steady temperature inside the eggs? Maybe the lighter eggs' shells were more impacted by the temperature and humidity swings? And perhaps that's why the dark eggs seem to be hatching great while the light eggs show no signs of hatching, even though they have all had the exact same incubation experience?

Mainly, I'm planning to wait things out and let nature take its course. But...

A quick follow-up question is: Should I go ahead and move the 5 chicks (all looking healthy and fluffed out already) to the brooder, since there are no pips on any of the other eggs and if the other eggs hatch I'm guessing they might be delayed? The first chick hatched toward the end of Day 20, so it could end up being in the incubator quite a long time. Plus they're fairly crowded already in my little TrioCottage Incubator ($80 from Amazon), and they're of course knocking all the other eggs around like crazy, and so often sitting on my hygrometer/thermometer that it's making it difficult to read it sometimes!

Any and all thoughts welcome! Thank you so much!

 

[JaeG]

I'd take them out.

I think that dark eggs, as well as blue and especially green eggs, are difficult to candle so it is harder to work out what's happening. I haven't come across anything that says they are harder to hatch though.

Did your eggs sit in the same place inside the incubator for the whole of the incubation period? It's important to move them around to different spots as all incubators have warmer and colder spots. Eggs sitting in warmer spots get sped up slightly while the ones in cooler spots slow down. Rearranging them ensures those temperature differences are evened out.

Seeing as the others haven't pipped you could do a quick candle of the remaining eggs. Try to not move them around too much while you do this - I know the chicks have been playing ball with them but try to keep them orientated the way they are lying in the incubator. See if their air cells have drawn down and if you can see any little shadow beaks in the air cell which would indicate they've pipped internally.

 

[ZZZ]

Awesome info! Thanks bunches!! Yes, I had them in their same places the whole time, so next time around I'll fix that mistake. Now that you mention it and I think about it, most of the ones that haven't pipped were on the same side of the incubator. Interesting! Thanks so much again for your reply. Much appreciated!

 

[ZZZ]

I'd take them out.

I think that dark eggs, as well as blue and especially green eggs, are difficult to candle so it is harder to work out what's happening. I haven't come across anything that says they are harder to hatch though.

Did your eggs sit in the same place inside the incubator for the whole of the incubation period? It's important to move them around to different spots as all incubators have warmer and colder spots. Eggs sitting in warmer spots get sped up slightly while the ones in cooler spots slow down. Rearranging them ensures those temperature differences are evened out.

Seeing as the others haven't pipped you could do a quick candle of the remaining eggs. Try to not move them around too much while you do this - I know the chicks have been playing ball with them but try to keep them orientated the way they are lying in the incubator. See if their air cells have drawn down and if you can see any little shadow beaks in the air cell which would indicate they've pipped internally.

Thanks so much again for your help! 2 more hatched for a total of 7 (out of 11), and I will be sure to rotate the eggs' placement in the incubator when we start our 2nd batch this weekend! (The kids and I did a little photoshoot with them today.)

 

[JaeG]

Thanks so much again for your help! 2 more hatched for a total of 7 (out of 11), and I will be sure to rotate the eggs' placement in the incubator when we start our 2nd batch this weekend! (The kids and I did a little photoshoot with them today.)

❤ Thanks for sharing. They are so adorable, and photogenic.