Four eggs! [with pictures]

[Prairie Orca]

Original post:

Ready, set, hatch!

So I set up my ceramic heat emitter, thermometer, hygrometer (humidity measuring thing), and the egg. (I know people say I have to wait 24 hours, but trust me the heat emitter is slow and steady with heating up; I've had it for a couple years already and used it for my snake. Case in point: it's been on for twenty minutes and the thermometer has yet to move up. lol)

Humidity is 70% in here... should I be concerned?

The temperature has to be at about 100ºF, right? If that's the case, I might have to move the heat emitter closer to the egg somehow.

In case you're wondering, yes they are likely fertile, as the hens were kept with a rooster when I purchased them.

Here are some pictures...

My first egg!

The incubator. (Now using two water bowls.)

Candling pictures are a few posts down.

 

[easttxchick]

If you are trying to hatch chicken/duck eggs, then yes, the humidity is too high. It should be around 55% for the first 18 days.
Temp between 99-100 is what you are looking for.

 

[Prairie Orca]

Alright, thanks.

Humidity went down to 60%, so that's better. Just now I put a Becel filled with wet paper towels in it (and a hole in its side) under the heat emitter to provide any humidity that may escape the enclosure (if it raises the humidity too much I'll remove it before it gets too high).

Where I had the heat emitter, the egg was only getting 80ºF, so I got some sort of metal bar thingy from the kitchen and brought it closer to the egg. When I turned the egg it felt warmer than room temperature... amazing...

I'm most likely doing some no-no's by making these changes around the egg and such... but it's my first time and I'm still trying to figure this all out.

 

[Prairie Orca]

Thermometer is reading 100ºF, hygrometer is reading 55%.

Collected one egg today and added it to the incubator (the hatching times will be different... so what?

).
It had some straw and dirt stuck on it so I picked off as much as I could. Otherwise the egg is perfect.

How should the surface of the egg feel to my fingers? Warm? Almost burning? Cooler?

 

[easttxchick]

If you are talking about how the eggs feel when you are turning them, they should be warmish.

 

[Prairie Orca]

Now there are three eggs. (I promise to stop at four!

)

I candled the first and second eggs tonight. Egg 1's shell is too thick/dark to see anything yet. Egg 2, meanwhile...

Earlier this evening. Couldn't co-ordinate egg hand vs camera hand, so the dark area looks larger than it really is.
** Dark area was moving.

Four hours later, and I worked out a compromise for the egg hand vs camera hand dilemma.

Do I spy an embryo?
(It's still moving.)

Photos were taken with a Kodak EasyShare (Z650) set to "Flowers".

 

[Prairie Orca]

Updated the first post to show the first egg, and what the incubator looks like.

Added the fourth and final egg to the incubator. All eggs collected from this point on will be for eating.

 

[Prairie Orca]

Still can't see anything in #1.

#2 still has the dark sphere/circle (I'm assuming that's the yolk), it's larger with a small-ish dark blob in the center of it. Can I have myself a little party, or am I just losing it?

I took some pictures, but the dirt on the shell kinda blocks all the good viewing spots.

#3 is looking like #2 from yesterday (dark sphere/circle).

Haven't looked at #4 yet.

 

[easttxchick]

Your candling pictures are great, I just can't really see anything just yet.
See any veining yet? I can't tell from the pics.
I usually don't candle til around day 7-8 so I may be expecting you to see veining too early.

 

[Prairie Orca]

Thank you.

I'm looking for anything. It's so exciting to be doing my business throughout the day, and be aware that little lives are rapidly growing in my house.

Egg #1, day 4 - still too dark, can't see a thing.

Egg #3, day 2 - I think I see the yolk. :O

Egg #4, day 1 - really fuzzy, but I still see the yolk.

Egg #2, day 3 - in the middle closer to the top, there's a dirt line to the left of a dark blob... possible embryo? I also see some veins, but the camera is unable to capture them yet.