Filling the incubator 6-3-2011 Join me for my 1st attempt?

[ItsAZOO32]

I candled tonight too.. day 4.. didn't look good.

had to toss 2 because they had cracks but left all of the others. Only a few looked like they were developing out of the 24 I received. I will be contacting the seller because most look clear

 

[hudsonnascarfan]

thats why im giving mine almost a fullll week i wantt to be sure of them

 

[ItsAZOO32]

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Yeah I am waiting until after a week to contact her but I am rather certain most of the eggs weren't fertile

 

[Taylorhens]

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So, as far as dark eggs, our options are to either wait for a stinky smell, or an egg that just doesn't hatch? There's no way to tell if a dark egg is developing?

I think if you have a bright enough light you can still candle, but just can't see quite as well. The problem is, I barely know what I'm looking for anyway. I don't really know if I'm seeing what I'm supposed to see on the white eggs...I'm sure not going to figure it out on the dark ones.

 

[stitch81]

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So, as far as dark eggs, our options are to either wait for a stinky smell, or an egg that just doesn't hatch? There's no way to tell if a dark egg is developing?

I think if you have a bright enough light you can still candle, but just can't see quite as well. The problem is, I barely know what I'm looking for anyway. I don't really know if I'm seeing what I'm supposed to see on the white eggs...I'm sure not going to figure it out on the dark ones.

The flashlight I am using is an led flashlight that puts out 144 lumens (which is pretty darn bright, you don't want to shine it in your eyes). I looked up the candling photos here on BYC, they show pretty clearly what should be there. My darker shelled eggs, sort of look like the pourous egg that was shown in the candling pics, so I think that is making it more difficult to tell.

 

[hudsonnascarfan]

ok i checked out 3 eggs just a sce ago i thought i could see some veins in 2 of the white
eggs but the 3rd egg i tryed was a brown one i could see the air pocket but was hard to make anything out in it
but im thinking its only been in sence saterday afternoon im going to wait till friday night or saterday to check them all out

 

[Taylorhens]

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Ouch. Sorry, ZOO. Let's hope things look better at the end of the week for you!

I have heard some people dribble candle wax on cracked ones and still get them to hatch if the membrane is intact and they aren't leaking.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I'm on day 3, and the bator is holding a very steady temp and humidity level. The eggs were shipped, and looked good, other than the corner of the shipping box being totally smashed in..so I don't know. They were packed really well at least.

I'm going to candle tomorrow night, but more than half of the eggs are Welsummer and Marans, so I'm not very hopeful about seeing anything. I'm leaving town Friday, and I'm very nervous! I have a neighbor who's going to check on them regularly, and I guess that outside of making sure the temp holds steady, there's not much I can do anyway. It's probably good, because I've been obsessing over them constantly. I probably need a forced break.

 

[BlakesWife]

Add me to the hatchalong too! I put mine in on either the 2nd or the 3rd, I can't recall which.

Anyhow---in my cabinet bator is 37 GLW and 38 BLRW. I won't be candling with this batch until I move them into lockdown. Happy hatching all!

 

[gvntofly05]

Count me in, today is day 5 for 23 of my own BCM eggs and I just added 11 Silkie eggs (6 BBS and 5 white) today! Yes, I am notorious for doing staggered hatches in the same bator!

When candling my BCM's, I always wait until day 10. Even then I am just looking for the dark shadow. I candle them again at day 18 making sure the entire egg, other than the air cell, is dark. I'm never able to see much more than that with my Marans since I only hatch the darkest eggs my girls lay.

Now the Silkies!!! I will be candling those at day 3, 7, 10, 14 and 18! I enjoy watching them grow. It's not very often that I get to watch the development of a chick during incubation since my main hobby is my Marans!

I am doing a dry hatch this time around. I've done many hatches but most have been in the winter and spring when the heater is on. The humidity has been pretty stable at 35% without water in the bator. I'm curious to see how this hatch percentage compares to those where I've had higher humidity.