does weight play a part?! ****UPDATE****

[ukchickengirl]

Hi - some of my eggs are getting heavier and have done from day 3/4 is this a good sign?
dont wanna candle them as i dont really know what i'm looking for (even with all the good ref to it!) and would rather wait and see

and i dont want to upset any babies forming by moving them around loads!

Thanks
H x

 

[jimnjay]

I have never weighed them, I know there is moisture that evaporates, perhaps the actual development of the chickens is more dense than the liquid and weights more. I don't have an answer just a supposition.

 

[Queen of the Lilliputians]

I'm not sure if my advice is helpful here.. since I haven't tried it and am going by heresay..

but I thought the eggs actually got lighter as they incubated... as jimnjay said, the water evaporates and the air cell gets bigger (I think...). What is your humidity reading?

If it was me, I'd give candling a try, even if I wasn't sure what I was looking for (LOL, when I was practicing to hatch <don't ask..> I used a store-bought refridgerated egg to compare). Even if you can't see much, I think if you are a week in you'll be able to see veins and such.

Good luck with your hatch!!

Meghan

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, eggs should be getting lighter. There is no way it could be getting heavier since it can be modeled as a closed system of nutrients with evaporation being the only out. They need to lose a certain weight to be able to hatch right. Just monitor the air cell size.

 

[ukchickengirl]

Thanks for your replys, think i'll give candling a try today, i'm 13 days in so i'm bound to see something

Since posting they have actually got lighter so maybe i was imagining the whole thing

Watch this space....................!!

H x

I candled all my eggs last night and as they are brown eggs and i was only using a torch (these are my excuses anyway!) i saw some black blobs and lovely air sacs in 3 or 4 so heres hoping that its positive! my other 6 eggs which are a week behind also had some air sacs and black blobs but will leave them till next week to candle again.