Eggs in the bator! July 27th

[JacksonB54]

How are things progressing, Sylverfly and LuvinChickens? Things going pretty well here so far: lost one of our own eggs from a tiny crack I'd not seen before, and two of the dozen shipped eggs had no development. Starting to get nervous here about lockdown next week, since that is when I lost the most eggs last time. Hope all is going well for you two!

 

[Sylverfly]

Things are going well here now (I think) I threw out 2 of the 23 eggs I set one had nothing going on and the other had died right after it started to develop. I have about 4 that I am watching no change noticed but they don't stink or anything so I've got my fingers crossed that they hatch. Most of the eggs I set were so dark I couldn't really see much inside them when I candled, but they are heavier now and are now almost completely dark inside. I'm hoping they are full of baby chicks and not bacteria or something. I had a slight problem at the beginning when the fan in my incubator malfunctioned and the temp spiked slightly I caught it early and "fixed" it hopefully before too much damage was done. Someone I know mists there eggs close to hatch day (2-3 days before lock down I think) to help moisten things and they say it gives them a better hatch out, anyone heard of doing this.

 

[LuvinChickens]

Eggs went into lockdown today. Day 17 for the bantam eggs if there good. The Olive Eggers are starting to wobble. They are early little buggers.

 

[billyb]

This is so interesting! How can u tell the egg is dead, and what does lockdown mean??

 

[LuvinChickens]

When you put a bright flashlight up to an egg you can see through it. This is called candling. When you candle on day 10 of incubating, you can see a baby chick moving around. If the egg is completely clear by day 10 it is not fertile. At day 14 or 18 the chick should take up most of the egg.

Lockdown is when you reach day 18 of incubating and you need to remove the auto egg turner. It is called lockdown because you are not supposed to open the incubator at all or the unhatched chick could dry out and die. I still open it to add water for the humidity.

Please feel free to contact me any time. =]

 

[Sylverfly]

Went into lock down last night eggs were wiggling and since I removed them from the egg turner a few have rolled around and bumped into each other. No peeping or pip holes yet, I think that would be a little too early if that was happening, they must just be getting claustrophobic in there its got to be getting cramped inside those shells, lol. Things are starting to get exciting here.

 

[JacksonB54]

BillyB, you may find it helpful (I know that I did) to read the Hatching Chicks info under the "Learning Center" tab at the top of the home page. It tells you what to look for development-wise at each day of incubation, and it talks about lockdown. What day are your eggs on?

Best of luck to you!!

Oh, and I had a hen go broody a couple of days ago and finally gave her 3 eggs last night that had been in the 'bator (day 15), so I'll keep folks posted on how that goes!

Best of luck on the lockdown, Sylverfly! Fingers and toes crossed for a successful hatch!! Sounds like it's going well if they're "bouncing around!"

 

[billyb]

Okay thanks every one for the good info! I believe I'm going to set my eggs in spring. But I'm going to do all my research on it now so when I do incubate the I will now what's going on and how to do everything. I do this all the time before I try something chickens or other pets.

 

[LuvinChickens]

I have one pip so far.

 

[Sylverfly]

Woot! hatch time is upon us. Nothing going on here my eggs are wiggling a bit but no pip holes, peeps, or cheeps yet. I went into lock down a bit early but my temps ran a bit on the high side thanks to my fan not working well so I thought they might hatch a bit early, but nothing yet, I sure hope at least a few of mine hatch, and hopefully a lot of yours hatch post a pic if you can once they ditch their shells...its too early to be on a computer, lol.