First incubating attempt (updates/notes)

[FLMomRN]

Yay for veins!

What kind of eggs are you incubating jp?


I told myself I wasn't going to candle again until day 7, but when turning this morning (day 5) I decided to do a quick "spot check" on the one I thought has looked the best all along. It had veins so I caved and checked the rest. 3-4 don't seem to be developing but the rest have clearly grown and several have veins. I think some of the air cells may have reattached also, but I'm too scared to turn them all the way upside down to check for sure.

 

[jphendrix]

Yay for veins!

What kind of eggs are you incubating jp?


I told myself I wasn't going to candle again until day 7, but when turning this morning (day 5) I decided to do a quick "spot check" on the one I thought has looked the best all along. It had veins so I caved and checked the rest. 3-4 don't seem to be developing but the rest have clearly grown and several have veins. I think some of the air cells may have reattached also, but I'm too scared to turn them all the way upside down to check for sure.

They are a mix. I am not sure what my rooster is, I think hes a mutt. I have RIR Buff orps Black sex links, and 1 white leghorn egg, and Barred Rock. I don't know which ones came from which hen other than the white one, and also 2 banty eggs. But we will see when they hatch LOL! I have no clue what they will look like! LOL! I am on day 6 now I think. Do I need to start counting the day after I put them in the bator or the day of?
I know exactly how you feel! It is all so exciting! What kind do you have?

 

[FLMomRN]

I set mine at 10:00 am on 2/7, so when I count my days I count from 10:00 am that day to 10:00 am the next day as "day 1."

Mine are Muscovy eggs which I'm kind of regretting. Chickens have a much shorter incubation time. I still have 30 more days to go. I suppose that gives me plenty of time to get their run finished at least.

 

[jphendrix]

Ok, well in that case it is day 6, it will be day starting on day 7 tomorrow at 2 pm. Wow, what kind is Muscovy, I think I have heard of them but not sure. Oh yea. We are going to build a bigger chicken pen for our hens and rooster, and use the smaller one for the chicks when they come out of the brooder. My husband just went and got some chain link fence and a gate and 2 basket ball goals for $50! He said it should be enough, and his boss man is going to give us some chicken wire that we can use over the top of our run to keep predators out! We just went and got some used wood from a family friend that we can use on the pen tooo! I am so excited about all the babies! I sure hope you have a really great hatch!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[FLMomRN]

Thanks! You too! Have fun working on your pen!

I candled and weighed today (day 7). I could see a heartbeat in egg #2. Amazing!!

3 eggs still look infertile but I see a lot of people say they don't pull anything this early so I'll leave them a few more days just for the heck of it. There is no odor or anything at this point. One looks like it could possibly have a red ring, but I'm not confident enough at this point to differentiate it from just being veins so I'm going to leave it for now as well. The rest have veins and looks great. 4 more weeks!!

 

[FLMomRN]

Well, 3 ended up being infertile for sure, so I had been down to 12 for a while now.

I have 5 days left until hatch day, but now 6 of them have died in the last 4 days. They all had excellent movement and veining until then.

The only change I made was to up the humidity a bit last week based on my weekly weight results. I had been keeping them around 35-40ish and upped it to around 50-55 for a few days.

I've opened one so far - the one who quit first. It looked horrible...really like it must have died well before I thought it had, but I'd have sworn I had movement in it up until 4 days ago. The liquid inside was brownish but since I'm sick I can't tell if there is any fowl odor or not.

I really hope I am able to get at least 3 females out of the 6 that are left. It's not looking very good at this rate though.

 

[jphendrix]

Aww!!!! That's awful!

Keeping my fingers crossed that your last 6 hatch out!!!!!

And that you get at least 3 girls!!