Hatch-Along - Setting eggs this weekend (Jan5/6) WHOS WITH ME!

[purewellspring]

Today is day seven, so my girls and I candled, too! Out of 40 eggs, it looks like 34-35 are good! I'm so excited! A couple looked basically clear all the way through, barely perceptible darker area in center. Given the obvious development in so many others, I'm assuming that probably means infertile? And then a couple had what sounds like that "blood ring" above. Do I need to get those out of the 'bator right away? I don't want to compromise my other eggs, but one of the ones with a ring also looked like it had something in it, so I didn't want to just remove it. The one thing that was most surprising was the difference in development. Some babies are taking up a good deal of room in the eggs (like nearly 1/3, excluding the air cell), and others are a bit smaller. Then again, my eggs range significantly in size difference, so I assume that has something to do with it. And, every egg has lost 1-2 grams, which equals 5% of initial weight (well, initial before going in the 'bator, since some are older, not the actual first weight...). I'm so happy! My humidity has been hard to keep stable, ranging between 36-42 percent according to my WM hygrometer, and 33-41, according to the hovabator built in hygrometer. but all in all, everything looks good! I'm so excited. And my girlies thought it was super cool, although they did give out after four candlings (the three year old) and 15 candlings (the 4.5 year old), respectively. I could totally do it again! haha.

Can anyone shed light on when I need to be culling eggs that look bad? My incubator is crowded enough that I hate to risk an egg bursting or something, but I don't think anything looked so clearly off that I felt confident taking it out...except maybe the clear eggs. Thanks!

Congrats to everyone else on fun candling! Here's to another week! Yikes!

 

[SarahJaneB]

Well, we candled all of the eggs tonight, camera takes too long to focus for pics in the coop... but so far we can easily see veins and dark spots in the lighter brown ones, and in the darker eggs we can see a dark area (has progressed since first viewing a few days ago in two we had previously looked at). So fingers crossed that they are developing also.

Oh that's awesome! Congrats! I candled again today and all of my eggs seem to be fine still except for those three still. There's a dark mass in them it looks like but I can't see veining yet. I keep smelling them and there's no smell. Not sure how long that takes to develop though. One seems clear enough though that I should've been able to see the veins and wiggling dot in the center like the rest. Two are dark so I'm holding out hope for them for the time being but if they were developing like the rest I probably should have saw something though. My humidity has dropped to 45% which I'm glad about. I think it was spiking over 50% yesterday because of the stormy weather.

This is a very exciting process

 

[fisherlady]

This is a very exciting process

Yes... and nerve wracking!
and we're not the ones doing the work in our case, it is all Gracie!
At this point my main concern is that something happens and Gracie doesn't end up with any little ones...after she sat for so long I would feel horrible if something happens. I know they are chickens, and don't feel things the same as humans, but she deserves some reward for her dedication!

 

[EPetrilli]

All 48 of my eggs were laid the week we had 6 inches of snow here & temps in the teens. All but maybe 3-4 are showing development. It really depends on how warm your coop is. If your birds are spending a lot of time huddled inside for warmth then the temps inside will be raised by their body heat. If you collect 3-4 times per day you will have better chances with the eggs because they won't have been exposed to the cold for as long.

Thanks so much! I just didn't want to be completely wasting time by even trying when it has been this cold. The temp inside the coop stays pretty consistent and is surrounded by insulation inside and out so we might give it a try! My son really wants to get back to hatching a few eggs to work on his technique! I just don't want him to get his hopes up and get zero chance!
I really appreciate all of the helpful people on this forum!! Happy hatching to you all

 

[dblea202]

So we just added six more eggs to our LG bator and we candled them to look at the air sac and some of them looked kinda of funny should we be worried they might explode? We just put them in there yesterday

 

[LuvMyRoo]

Yes... and nerve wracking!
and we're not the ones doing the work in our case, it is all Gracie!
At this point my main concern is that something happens and Gracie doesn't end up with any little ones...after she sat for so long I would feel horrible if something happens. I know they are chickens, and don't feel things the same as humans, but she deserves some reward for her dedication!

I would probably be tempted to go buy her some chicks!

SpeckeledRoo, so sorry about your eggs What a shame, and a mess! Keep us posted on the others.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Candled again tonight as I was turning and had a definite blood ring on a previously growing chick. I watched for anything and nothing...the ring was blaring red. I cracked the egg to inspect and there was definitely an embryo.

. Wonder if I jumped the gun and should have waited. The ring had not previously been there and was very pronounced. On a good note I have some very lively embryos still going strong! Fingers crossed I don't lose any more.

If you crack open a live chick the blood will be bright red in the veins around it. A dead chick will have brown blood in the veins.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Today is day seven, so my girls and I candled, too! Out of 40 eggs, it looks like 34-35 are good! I'm so excited! A couple looked basically clear all the way through, barely perceptible darker area in center. Given the obvious development in so many others, I'm assuming that probably means infertile? And then a couple had what sounds like that "blood ring" above. Do I need to get those out of the 'bator right away? I don't want to compromise my other eggs, but one of the ones with a ring also looked like it had something in it, so I didn't want to just remove it. The one thing that was most surprising was the difference in development. Some babies are taking up a good deal of room in the eggs (like nearly 1/3, excluding the air cell), and others are a bit smaller. Then again, my eggs range significantly in size difference, so I assume that has something to do with it. And, every egg has lost 1-2 grams, which equals 5% of initial weight (well, initial before going in the 'bator, since some are older, not the actual first weight...). I'm so happy! My humidity has been hard to keep stable, ranging between 36-42 percent according to my WM hygrometer, and 33-41, according to the hovabator built in hygrometer. but all in all, everything looks good! I'm so excited. And my girlies thought it was super cool, although they did give out after four candlings (the three year old) and 15 candlings (the 4.5 year old), respectively. I could totally do it again! haha.

Can anyone shed light on when I need to be culling eggs that look bad? My incubator is crowded enough that I hate to risk an egg bursting or something, but I don't think anything looked so clearly off that I felt confident taking it out...except maybe the clear eggs. Thanks!

Congrats to everyone else on fun candling! Here's to another week! Yikes!

Light colored eggs that are obviously clear can be removed after 7-10 days. Darker eggs I usually wait until 10-14 days. If the shell is so dark that all you can see is the air cell or sometimes not even that much then I leave them until everything has hatched unless they leak or stink. As for blood rings, I never remove them the 1st time I see it unless we are more than 10 days in & there has been so little development as to tell me it died long ago. I always make suspected or obvious bloodrings with "BR" and check them again in 3-5 days to see if there has been any change in appearance. A bloodring will become more defined in that time period. Veins that are strangely shaped will develop further as will the growing chick. I have had many eggs that I initially thought had bloodrings & turned out to just be odd veining. Always give them a chance unless they are leaking or stinking.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Yes... and nerve wracking!
and we're not the ones doing the work in our case, it is all Gracie!
At this point my main concern is that something happens and Gracie doesn't end up with any little ones...after she sat for so long I would feel horrible if something happens. I know they are chickens, and don't feel things the same as humans, but she deserves some reward for her dedication!

If all else fails & Gracie doesn't get any babies you can always swing over & get some from me to give to her.

 

[SilkieSensation]

So we just added six more eggs to our LG bator and we candled them to look at the air sac and some of them looked kinda of funny should we be worried they might explode? We just put them in there yesterday

Shipped eggs often have strangely shaped air cells from the trauma of shipping. This won't make the egg explode, but may have an effect on development & hatchability. Give them a chance. If they don't stink or leak you should be fine.