Egg color pattern right before Incubator lockdown.

[ssferret]

Here are 2 of my 4 light brahma eggs at Day 18 getting ready for Incubator Lockdown.

(I candled them earlier in the day and everyone seemed to be doing fine.)

I put the top down on the incubator to get more water since I was having a problem with humidity. When I came back they looked like this. I picked it up to check it the color looked like it was on the egg not from inside. I know it looks like the pattern of air cell to chick but still considering everything else how could that be involved.

The humidity was really giving me a problem so I had to move the egg at times. (This is really freaking me out. I'm really scared that moving them so much harmed the chicks.) The first time I moved them I tried to keep the eggs in the same position but they had better ideas. Anyways after I moved them the pattern disappeared and they just looked like a regular egg again the same as the others. I haven't seen it since.

(BTW, I didn't want to candle them at this stage to check on them again. I had done enough anyway.)

I searched the web, and even here for some answers but couldn't find anything. Does as anyone here know why they looked like that?

 

[Lil Biddie]

It looks like a shadow to me.... and it went away when you moved them.
I'm also stressing about hatching duck and chicken eggs at the same time, so I get it. I set them so that they would hatch out at the same time, but they don't look as developed @ lockdown as I expected, so....

 

[ssferret]

It looks like a shadow to me.... and it went away when you moved them.
I'm also stressing about hatching duck and chicken eggs at the same time, so I get it. I set them so that they would hatch out at the same time, but they don't look as developed @ lockdown as I expected, so....

I thought it was a shadow too but when I picked one up it still looked the same way.

I totally understand the stressing out bit. When I started incubator lockdown I tried to get the humidity up to 70. No can do. I was frantic. It took an hour and a half to finally find out why.

All the chicks looked great before the lockdown. As a hatching newbie I thought I was doing great until now. I'm just not sure after fiddling with the incubator so much that I could say the same. I'm scared too death.

It's now early in Day 20 and I've seen no egg movement yet. I'm already thinking the worst.

I hope everything goes well with your little chicks and ducklings. I mean with all our love seeping through those shells they'll immediately start hatching to get to that wonderful warm feeling. Then they'll laugh at us for being such worrywarts.

Giving you a big

 

[Lil Biddie]

Although I'm not a newbie with this incubator I've had difficulties this go around. Some of it beyond my control (hinky weather!) and at least 1 user error leading to a miscalculation of lockdown date. I'm @ day 21, but the eggs are just now getting to approximately day 19 and all appear to be alive. I have never had as much trouble keeping the temp and humidity consistent as I have had this time.
I'm using what could probably be considered an antique still air incubator that's been in the family for a very long time and although it's had hiccups I've been getting 85%+ hatch rates up until now. But, hand turning the eggs sure is a PITA.
It's very odd that the 'shadow' disappeared on your eggs. I wonder if the chick was pressed up against the shell and you're having black chicks?
They won't give even a little thought to our worries! But, I'm sure looking forwards to meeting the little ones!
Best wishes and let me know how it goes!

 

[ssferret]

It looks like a shadow to me.... and it went away when you moved them.
I'm also stressing about hatching duck and chicken eggs at the same time, so I get it. I set them so that they would hatch out at the same time, but they don't look as developed @ lockdown as I expected, so....

After thinking about this again I think you're probably right about the shadow. I can't think of anything else logical. Maybe I just imagined picking picking it up. It wouldn't be the first time my memory went wacky.

 

[ssferret]

Although I'm not a newbie with this incubator I've had difficulties this go around. Some of it beyond my control (hinky weather!) and at least 1 user error leading to a miscalculation of lockdown date. I'm @ day 21, but the eggs are just now getting to approximately day 19 and all appear to be alive. I have never had as much trouble keeping the temp and humidity consistent as I have had this time.
I'm using what could probably be considered an antique still air incubator that's been in the family for a very long time and although it's had hiccups I've been getting 85%+ hatch rates up until now. But, hand turning the eggs sure is a PITA.
It's very odd that the 'shadow' disappeared on your eggs. I wonder if the chick was pressed up against the shell and you're having black chicks?
They won't give even a little thought to our worries! But, I'm sure looking forwards to meeting the little ones!
Best wishes and let me know how it goes!

When I was first looking for an incubator I was looking for one that didn't turn the eggs itself. I felt like it would be some type of bonding if I did it. LOL After hearing you, I'm glad I didn't.

The thing with my incubator is that it can control the humidity but apparently it doesn't trust you to know what it is. Just put this amount of water to get this humidity, blah, blah, blah.

So like many of you I bought a hygrometer. The first 2 were crap but the last one was pretty good.

Everything was working great until incubator lockdown. It just wouldn't go higher than 61 so I started freaking out. I tried the basement and it started going up, then went back down. I tested the hygrometer and it was working fine. I read here that adding a sponge among other things but the only thing I seemed to do so well is disturb the eggs by moving them and removing the lid too much.

It took me an hour and a half before I found out I need to remove it from the floor and what do you know. The humidity went up.

Today is day 21 and no one pipped yet but I've seen the eggs move and was even able to hear a chirp through the plastic so I'm hoping they're just late bloomers.

That's great news that yours seem to be late bloomers too! Let me know how things turn out and I'll let you know. Hopefully we can have a mutual celebration.

 

[Lil Biddie]

LOL! Memory??? That was my 'user error' that I mentioned!
I'm pretty sure it cost me a day of incubation and then I didn't allow for it and went into lockdown as if it had never happened.
It's great that you're hearing peeps! I haven't heard anything, but I rarely do even in the best case scenario.
It's crazy that I'm having humidity difficulties as it's been raining here all week. It's so humid that the bees are bearding out of the hive, but I can't get the incubator up to 60% even with a damp towel inside?!?
Late bloomers for sure. Which is uncomfortable for me since I usually have at least 1 chick hatch a day early. Fingers crossed!

 

[ssferret]

I got 2/4 hatch a couple of weeks ago. The first one hated about 24 hrs earlier than the other. All were still alive on day 21. I saw all moving and trying to pip.

On day 22 I saw no movement in one of the 3 eggs left anymore. The other 2 had pipped and were peeping. I admit I went into the brooder and got that egg. I made noises at it and nothing. I then candled it and saw it was dead.

I know that was definitely one of the eggs I saw trying theto pip the day before. It didn't get too far from looking at the egg. I know there could be several reasons it couldn't pip but regardless I felt it most likely suffocated because it couldn't. I'm a newbie though so you would know better than I but I knew it wasn't my fault.

Now for the worst thing that happened. That chick being dead made me panic and I stopped thinking of everything not to do when eggs hadn't hatched.

For more than one reason I felt that the other 2 might have a the membranes stuck to them in the shell and even though they pipped I was trying to figure out if they were it trouble. There seemed like there was blood in the shell (which I now know why) and was trying to figure out what it was from. The eggs were only lifted a couple of inches but I dropped one and it badly cracked. Now for the worse part. I opened it up and saw that the yolk sac hadn't been totally absorbed yet. (I honest they they were absorbed pre pip.) Before I could do anything it was gone.

I'm never going to forgive myself. Why didn't I ask you guys first or look for some info before I even picked them up? Why did I let my imagination get away with me without finding some expertise. Letting my emotions rule is no excuse. It would have lived if not for my interference.

After that I left the last one totally alone. It hatched a couple hours later so at least there isn't one and although 2 isn't ideal it's better than nothing. Otherwise we would have had to buy a couple at the store because we knew the worst thing would have been for one to be growing up alone.

The younger one (Muffin), also bigger, would keep picking one the older one (Peep). I knew that was particularly be bad for being only 2. I put toys in there and that seemed to do the trick. The seem to be best buddies for now.

I get them out regularly so they are use to be picked up. Their favorite spot is nestling in my hair which is long, curly, and frizzy; the perfect nest.

They make me feel better about that one but I'll still always remember. It was a lesson I learned but with a steep price.

Ellen

 

[ssferret]

By the way, the two picture at the top with the shadows consisted of the first one to hatch and the first one to die so I still believe the were shadows.

 

[ssferret]

The are Light Brahma Chicks. Grant it, their mothers are hatchery chicks, I don't believe the rooster is. I got him from someone who got him from a swap since she was told he was a female. I'm not sure about the chicken origins in swaps so I'm just guessing.

Anyway, Peep was born with the color on her wings. It's obviously just more prominent as she grows. I don't remember any of the females at Peep's age from last year show wing color immediately but they are hatchery birds.

I think Mufin might be begining to show some wing color too but it's hard to see from these pictures.