Double Yolk Incubation Research Project

[MarlyMonster]

are you candling today

Yes just finished making my notes! Will share shortly!

 

[ejtrout31]

ohh i am excited

 

[MarlyMonster]

Hi everyone!

Another day of weighing and candling!

So I’ll jump right to the good stuff.

Weight loss wise everyone is on track, they’re all right around the 2.8% mark give or take a gram. The air cells are developing nicely too, besides 3 that I have my doubts about they all started shifting their air cell downward.

Picture time!

I think it’s safe to say we lost 9
Just like 8 it’s gotten very pale with no veins visible, not even a dark mass. I’m scared to take it out though because if I’m wrong I’ll have killed a little duck but if I’m right there’s a chance it could compromise the other eggs. What do you guys think?

As you can see they’re all starting to get too dark to see inside so I’ve been looking for veins and air cell shifting. 11’s air cell does seem to have shifted down and compared to last weeks candling it seems to have recovered from the weird shapes inside, so I’m thinking it’s still viable!

This one I’m not too sure about to be honest. Maybe you guys can share your thoughts? It’s not as dark as the others and I don’t really see any clear veining or movement. However the air cell does seem to have shifted. Is that a sign there’s still life in there or does it keep losing weight no matter what?

Also too dark to see much but the air cell did shift in this one too.

Yay 7 is still going strong! I know it’s vague in the picture but there’s some very clear veining throughout the egg when I manage to angle the light just right. It’s too dark for me to see much movement though. Any tips on that? Using an iPhone torch at the moment.

Veining also visible in this one! 4 is a possible single duckie but you never know!

I have a feeling there might actually be 2 duckies in here from when I candled a few days ago so fingers crossed! 5 is going very well with veining (as you can see) AND movement!!

Bad feeling about 6
To me it doesn’t seem like there’s any life on there. No veining and only a slight shift in the air cell. Also the dark mass seems to float when I turn it. Thoughts?

12 is another one going strong! Not only is there prominent veining, but MOVEMENT TOO YAY!!


While there’s definitely a few casualties the others seem to still be going strong!

If you guys could offer your insight on the ones I’m not sure about I’d really appreciate it.

Also, any advice on the candling? Will they always get too dark to see much or is it my light that’s the problem?

Very excited about these babies, only two more weeks!! Hatch day is January 8th so stay tuned! I’ll unfortunately be pet sitting by then (bad timing on my part I know) but since it’ll be lockdown I won’t need to turn and I plan on installing a time lapse camera to record the whole hatch with live feed to my phone so I can monitor from a distance. Also been doing research on hatch assisting and I’ve prepared a little kit with tweezers and a set of 31 different screw driver heads, and I’ve been practicing on regular eggs. Since it can take days for babies to hatch I’m assuming it won’t be a problem that I’m 15 minutes away right? Still plan on driving over every few hours to check and I have my portable brooder box to bring any hatched babies with me.

Thank you all for following! We’re over the halfway point and nearing the countdown! Hope you’re enjoying this little journey as much as I am, and keep sending those good thoughts!

Advice and insight from those more experienced is always welcome


Have a very merry Christmas from me and all the little babies!!


Xxxx Marly

 

[MarlyMonster]

ohh i am excited

Update posted!!

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

It seems like all of them are at different stages of incubation...... perhaps the ones that aren't showing a lot of dark mass died off?

 

[MarlyMonster]

It seems like all of them are at different stages of incubation...... perhaps the ones that aren't showing a lot of dark mass died off?

They’re all the same age and set at the same time so they really couldn’t be at different stages of incubation, but I think you’re right about the ones without the dark mass having died off

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

They’re all the same age and set at the same time so they really couldn’t be at different stages of incubation, but I think you’re right about the ones without the dark mass having died off

No, the ones with the dark mass are forming... not dying off. It's the one that still shows development at an early age that has died and stopped progress. Do the ones that seem far behind in development moving at all?

 

[MarlyMonster]

No, the ones with the dark mass are forming... not dying off. It's the one that still shows development at an early age that has died and stopped progress. Do the ones that seem far behind in development moving at all?

That’s what I said lol. I said I think you’re right in saying the ones without the dark mass are dying off. The ones that are dark seem to be right on track. Also, the light ones aren’t far behind since they’ve sort of remained in that state for a while, which is visible when you check previous updates. They seem to have stopped developing a little while back. They all developed at the same rate for the first two weeks, after that things started changing, so I know they’re all developing at the same rate and they’re the same age. I’ve posted pictures and notes on every candling session so it would be beneficial to go back and look at those to see the progress.

 

[iluvsedward]

If they were my eggs i would be taking #9, #1, and #6 out. You can kind of trust your gut once you get the hang of candling, but it takes experience so its always good to err on the side of caution and give them an extra day. However, no veins, movement, development, or liveliness is a pretty good indication of loss. And to answer your question, the eggs will continue to change in weight and air cell size even after they’ve passed, that is NOT a good indication of life. The bacteria are trying to get the egg to decompose so its weight and aircell will change even when its not alive.

 

[iluvsedward]

I have also observed that embryos that have recently died will still have veins, as they don’t magically disappear, but they will get more and more faint each day and have a cloudy appearance versus the bright pink/red of a developing embryo.

Eta:
Eventually it will get too hard to see into the egg in the final stages. During this time i shine the light through the air cell or the narrow end of the egg to see where i can get any light through, and just look for healthy looking veins. You wont see movement until they start pushing against the aircell trying to make the internal pip (lockdown). With double yolkers assisting will be tricky. You dont want to help to early because they can die from blood loss if you crack the shell on a vein and break it. The best thing to do to avoid assisting too early is to give yourself peace of mind by making a tint tiny safe hole where the aircell end of the egg is, no bigger than the tip of a pencil. This gives the babies (or baby, since only one will be in the optimal position to access air through the aircell) access to air and will make you less antsy to assist thinking that they are going to suffocate. The baby at the narrow end of the egg will have to pip its way through the shell WITHOUT getting that first breath from the internal pip. They are not always very likely to accomplish this, but ive seen it happen with single yolkers that were malpositioned in the egg. If you’re extra observant, keep an eye out for stains on the eggshell in the narrow end. This happens when the baby is trying to poke his way out and the moisture from the membranes and such leaves a little stain. I dont have a picture but it wont be very obvious, just a discolored patch. If you do see it appear, you can try chipping away at that mark CAREFULLY! Just the shell, not the membrane. If you’re right, you will see the babys bill and you can break the membrane so it can breathe, but if not the membrane is still intact so it shouldnt be a big deal.

Sorry this is a little early haha, you can come back to it when the time comes and ill see if i can find the article i read that helped me tremendously.