First Incubation....not good

[jerseygirl1]

I found that on Ebay, good feedback is based on the condition the eggs were received in,not necessarily how they hatch. I have had horrible hatches from shipped eggs, but the seller had perfect feedback. Only from a friend did I found out the truth about some of the sellers, which is when I decided not to buy shipped eggs anymore. No, there is no guarantee on shipped eggs, but they should at least be fertile.

 

[search4one]

UPDATE

I candled the eggs this morning and three show some development and nine are crystal clear. Even though I don't have much hope in them hatching, I left the three in the incubator and will until Monday which will be day 25.

Randy

 

[featherbaby]

To see pictures of what you should be seeing with candled eggs at various points in development, check out BYC's "Learning Center" at the top of every page. Then go to the first topic "How To" and click on "Candling eggs" which is underlined. This helped me a lot.

I had some disappointments with shipped eggs too. They were from good reputable breeders, but the shaking/jostling/dropping that the post office does, simply isn't good for them and some don't survive that. The biggest help candling was to me is that the clear unfertilized ones could be discarded early on and then I could focus on the ones that had a chance.

By the way, I had almost given up on my eggs at day 22, but didn't have the heart to toss them yet. Good thing, because 3 more hatched on day 23-24! Yes, I counted carefully, but they just were on their own time clocks (Probably "Island time").

 

[hinkjc]

I hear folks say over and over that their temps were perfect, but hatch day really tells the story about thermometers. A late hatch is a sure sign either the thermometer had an inaccurate reading or the temps were set too low in the incubator. Incubators with fans are pretty easy and run at 99.5 with consistent humidity (which needs us to monitor). Incubators without fans should be around 101 and get hot and cool spots which makes hatching more challening sometimes. If you haven't done so, I would get another thermometer and compare readings with the one you are using. The one's that come with the incubators are typically junk and off by several degrees. Good luck. I hope the few eggs still hatch for you.

 

[search4one]

Featherbaby,

Thank you for the idea to look at the pictures. I looked at some that were almost ready to hatch and mine do not have the air pocket that those do just all dark. I didn't notice any smell but didn't really hold the eggs up close to my nose to check either. So, maybe mine three that I thought were developed, are just rotten.

Randy

 

[featherbaby]

Don't give up on them yet....If they're dark, there is a chick inside. Alive or dead you won't know for another day or two. If they were mine I'd keep watching until day 24 before pulling the plug. Is it possible the air space is small or not where you expect it to be? I turn my egg all directions when I candle to see where the air sac is. I had one air sac develop more toward the side than the top of the egg. I wish you luck and patience in the next few days.

 

[search4one]

DAY 24...................I candled the last three eggs again and noticed when I turned them side ways that the dark area only took up about half of the egg. Much different than what I saw in the pictures of eggs about to hatch. So, I opened one up and it was just more or less creamy, I guess is the best way to describe it. Nothing that looked like any resemblance of a chick. Not sure if it barely started to develop and then died or if it was starting to rot but I didn't notice any odor. So, pulled the plug on the last two because they looked the same with the light.
Thanks to all who gave me advice, I have learned a lot. I will be candling my eggs from now on. It wouldn't have made them hatch but I could have figured out a week or two ago I had a problem instead of going the full three weeks and then checking every hour on day 21, 22 & 23 to see if anything was happening.
My second try at incubating will be with eggs from my hens with no USPO involved. I have read up on how to store them while waiting to be incubated. WISH ME LUCK!

Thanks again,
Randy