Egg Shell vs Chick and candling question

[chickenreferee]

Ok, I'm still waiting for chicks.....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...-broody-hatch-day-is-here-not-sure-what-to-do

My curiosity got the best of me this afternoon and I candled a few of the eggs. The last time I candled was around day 6 or 7 and about 10 and after that Ida wasn't really interested in me touching her or the eggs so I decided to let Mother Nature do her thing.

ANYWAYS....Of the 4 eggs I candled (mind you I am not using a proper light for candling) 3 of them had an obvious air cell and the rest of the egg was pretty much dark. Nothing moving, *that I could tell using a mag lite*. Is this how they're supposed to look before they hatch?

Also, Ida lays super thick shelled eggs with a tough membrane, will this inhibit the chicks ability to break through? You can to rap them pretty hard to bust them open when cooking with her eggs.

I promise not to mess with them again and I hope I didn't do any harm checking this time....

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[Nsampsel]

That's exactly what you should see when they are ready to hatch. The chick will be taking up the entire shell except where the air cell is. As for hard shells, sometimes that can be a problem for the chicks, but you are better off letting mom deal with it from here on in. If you are hearing peeps for several hours (over 12 or so) with no external pips you may need to assist with pipping the shell & helping them zip...but Ida won't like you very well for it.

 

[chickenreferee]

Thank you very much, appreciate the reply and info. Not new to chickens, but a complete newbie with broody birds and hatching eggs. I think I may have been off a couple days on my original begin sit and hatch date. I am hands off and leaving Ida alone. Won't be bothering her again!!

I dunno what I would do without the great advice here!

 

[Nsampsel]

I've only been doing this since March myself, but you learn so much on here

I had already seen this 1 come up a couple times...lol

 

[chickenreferee]

lol Glad I'm not the only one obsessed with why my eggs aren't hatching. Glad you caught the info from the others cause I obviously don't have a clue.

Trying to keep myself from going out in the storage to have one last peek at Ida before beddy bye....

 

[Nsampsel]

I have 11 babies hatched in the past 5 days already in the brooder & 20 more in lockdown (8 are under 2 broody hens). 7 are Call Duck eggs. Then there are another 7 that will go in lockdown in the next week or so, 4 are ducks. I've been doing a lot of candling in the past 4 weeks...

Oh...and I'm currently using 1 of those little tiny LED lights with like 9 bulbs in it. Was only $1.99 at TSC. Before that I was using a box with a hold cut in it & my brooder lamp inside. It just has a standard 100W household bulb in it.