do eggs loose weight then gain weight when incubating?

[rosegal]

hatching for the science fair....the eggs lost weight last week then gained weight this week. Is this a normal?

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Not usually

 

[Baralak]

Eggs generally loose 15% of their weight from the start of incubation to hatching. If you are showing a weight gain, I would check your humidity. The weight loss is through mosture evaporated through the egg shell over 21 days.

Reference Surehatch

http://www.surehatch.com/Egg-Incubation-info.htm

 

[rosegal]

So I probably shouldn't have added wet sponges during lockdown????

 

[Baralak]

Well what is your humidity and temps?

 

[Ridgerunner]

How accurate and precise is your scale? There is a different in accurate and precise.

I suspect something more in the line of operator error or equipment malfunction than they are gaining weight. Some scales can have a repeatability error. That means they can have a bit of an error even if you are reading exactly the same thing. Other possible problems. Are you weighing the same eggs each time? Is the scale on a firm, level support? Are the conditions you are reading the weight the same, such as about the same temperature? Without knowing your exact procedure, I'm just trying to think of things that might give you erroneous readings.

I don't know what the humidity is inside and egg during lockdown. Without trying to overthink it, I would think any weight gain or loss would be less noticable during lockdown with the higher humidity. I've never weighed mine so I can't give any real help based on experience.

Good luck!!!

 

[rosegal]

The temp has been steady at 100. Don't have a way of measuring the humidity. The eggs that lost weight at the second weighing gained weight at the third weighing. The eggs that hadn't changed in the second weighing, lost weight in the third weighing. None of them have stayed the same. We are systematically doing the same procedure each time. Although weighing in both grams and oz. grams have been much more reliable. Which is good for the kids to see. I guess we will know in a few days???
Thanks