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

[Taylorhens]

I candled at day 7/8 and identified several that weren't viable, but didn't have the heart to throw them out right then, especially since I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to candling. I was going to wait until day 14 or even 18 to candle again, but I started worrying about those that aren't viable, so last night, at day 11/12 I candled again and this time I got rid of the cochin eggs that werren't growing.

Just like last time, I found 5 clears (infertile) and two blood rings. Those got tossed. I found one questionable that may have quit around day 4/5 as the dark area was smaller than the others, but I decided to leave that one in for now. My big concern is the only four (out of 12) cochin eggs that had been developing weren't showing any movement. Their size looked right for the timeframe, but I didn't seem them swimming. *sigh* I just put them back in and will check again, probably at day 14, but definitely no later than day 18 lockdown.

It's gotten hot and dry here in Texas, and my humidity had dropped to 28/29% (I was doing dry hatch) so I went ahead and added a little water while the bator was open. It is now back up to 34%.

My 15 marans eggs are all still "undetermined". I can see something in there, but the shells are so dark I can't distinguish much else.

I think I'm ready for this to be over. Too stressful. One more week until lockdown.

 

[stitch_b]

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I really want to candle, but I've decided to just wait until the night before lockdown, because last month I lost over half of the eggs between day 10 and hatch. I was not expecting that, and it really got to me, but I know now that it was due to temperature swings in the incubator. So I'll put off candling until the 11th hour, and at least go into lockdown knowing which eggs have movement and which ones are ominously still.

I'd expect that yours will do a lot better--they're supposed to be a lot tougher during this stage of development. But it's rough, isn't it--this waiting! We could do with a pacing-the-floor emoticon for times like these.

I've decided to do the same thing. I tried to candal on day 3/4 and from what I could tell it looked like they were all doing good! I could see hints of veining in all my ameraucana eggs. The OE eggs were too dark to see into. But I think im just gonna wait to candle again until day 18 because my gator goes crazy after you open it

...I think I may invest in a forced air unit, I've heard they are more stable.

I had a quick question about lockdown. Is it ok to stop turning on day 17? I got my eggs a day apart and id like to bother the incubator as little as possible to keep the temps stable. Will this cause any problems with development?

 

[AyeUpChuck]

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Im right there with you! I have about 60 BCM eggs set as well as some that are various roos over BCM and Wellie hens so I'm having a super hard time telling what's moving or growing for that matter!

And I have a decently strong LED light. So frustrating!!!!

 

[lebentier]

i was going to candle for the last time on day 14. i have read several places that by lockdown day the egg is so full of chick that you can't really see anything. thoughts anyone?

 

[ItsAZOO32]

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Yes that is basically true. You can sometimes see some slight movement but if you want to check BEFORE lockdown so as not to put any nasty eggs in there to possibly ruin the whole batch (blown up rotten eggs anyone?

) you should look around day 14 or so. You should still see movement and can tell if it's a good egg or just full of congealed dissolving bacteria filled "quitter".. ewww...

 

[stitch81]

I was told that if you hold the egg to your ear (day 18) that you can sometimes hear tapping. But yeah, the candling pics that I've seen for day 18 don't show much at all. I guess at that point, you just have to put them in the hatcher and cross your fingers. I started with 26 eggs, had 1 (Barred Rock) quit on day 4, and just had another (BUff Orpington) quit around day 12. All remaining 24 eggs are developing just fine (though 2 of them have pretty large air cells (already taking up a good 1/4-1/3 of the egg). I've found that I'm a bit of a candling junkie. I had my flashlight out at day 3 trying to see the little chickies growing, then again on day 5. I've been candling them about every other day. I keep telling myself that, that's it, I'm waiting now till day 18, but I always find myself moving toward the incubator with flashlight in hand. This is my first hatch though, so maybe that explains some of it. Our day 12 quitter we broke open. The little chick looked like it had been developing fine, there were no visible abnormalities, it just died.

 

[lebentier]

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looks like you are set up for a great hatch rate...awesome. i need to pay more attention to my air cells when i candle again. i got so excited about the little swimmers i forgot all about the air cells, and i know they are important too. can you increase/decrease your air cell size by adjusting your humidity?

 

[AyeUpChuck]

Here's a really good reference for candling from silkiechicken. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261876 She's a crazy mad chicken scientist working on her doctorate in Corvallis in some form of Biology.

 

[stitch81]

I have a fan in the incubator, and the 2 eggs with the larger air cells are closest to the fan, so that's the probable reason. All of the other eggs have good air cells at the size that they are "supposed" to be, so I'm not going to worry about adjusting humidity for 2 eggs. I should have kept rearranging the placement of the eggs in the incubator, but at this point in time, I think it's too late to do much to change it. My incubator is a homemade one using a 10 gallon tank. I got to thinking that for incubating it was fine, but for hatching, it was going to be pretty cramped. So I went back down to my husband's stash of tanks (you wouldn't believe how many 10 & 20 gallon tanks he has in the basement), found an odd sized 20 gallon (it's shorter and longer than your normal 20 gallon), and set that up to be my hatcher. I put a 60 watt in there and installed a dimmer. The temp is holding at 99 degrees (and I can still crank it higher if need be), and by lining the bottom with paper towels was able to distribute enough water that the humidity is at 68% currently. It seems much steadier temp wise than my 10 gallon, so if I do hatch again, I may discontinue the use of the 10 gallon and go with the 20.

Here's a pic of my incubator...

And my hatcher....

 

[stitch_b]

Sweet setups stitch!! Im about a week in and am already so anxious Haha. What do you look for when you candle those dark eggs? Ive got some olive eggs that I can hardly see anything when I shine a light into them...