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

[chicken pickin]

Very good results FeyRaine! I cant wait to see baby duck pics

. How was it candling those dark eggs? I had such a hard time(all mine are green blue olive and dark brown). Just like SilkieSensation said it was my kids who saw movement and veins in a lot of the eggs. Their eyes must have adjusted better.

 

[FeyRaine]

Very good results FeyRaine! I cant wait to see baby duck pics

. How was it candling those dark eggs? I had such a hard time(all mine are green blue olive and dark brown). Just like SilkieSensation said it was my kids who saw movement and veins in a lot of the eggs. Their eyes must have adjusted better.

I'm really looking forward to the ducks too, not the mess!! but baby ducks are so cute & these are Welsh Harlequin which I'm jazzed about.


Candling the dark eggs was very hard (again) these are from a different source & and this time the choc Marans are actually easier to see into than the green eggs! I was not expected that. I thought the greens would be more like the reg. brown/tan ones last time which I could see into fairly easily. I did notice as someone else had pointed out, that the longer I was in the dark the better I could see, & I made a point of closing my eyes for a moment once the egg was in place (covering the flashlight) which also really made a big difference, and just giving my not so young anymore eyes time to focus. Being less concerned about hurrying to keep the eggs warm and taking more time is key for me on seeing anything useful.

So far so good on electrical staying on so maybe my luck will hold this go round and my hatch rate will be respectable...

Hope everyone else is staying warm, national weather looks rough in some places so I hope everyone is doing ok that way.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Candled last night

(Day 10 for eggs set 1/5)

DUCKS 6/7 GOOD, 1 removed (this was my 3rd time looking and decided yes definitely blood ring which is now more brown than red)

CHICKEN
Choc. Eggs -- 4 or 5? of 5 GOOD, left the uncertain one in
Green Eggs - 6 / 6 I'm thinking all GOOD , 2 I could only see air cell & darkness, but originally I saw nothing so to me this says there is now a light dark contrast between aircell/embryo

(Day 3 for my one home flock egg)
Green - hummm, well it is only day three....cross fingers & hope

Overall I'm VERY happy w/ this so far, I think the small changes I've made since the first use of this diy bator have gotten a higher % of eggs to the Day 10 mark.

Also, despite the weather (ICE storm) our electric has stayed on, so I'm really happy about that, I did have a backup plan of using tea candles in stock pot to try to keep eggs warm if nec.
would give a whole new meaning to candling eggs , but luckily having a plan B has warded off the need to use it. Has anyone ever had to rig up an emergency heat source like this when they had no electric, I'm curious if it would work...

Over the summer we lost power for 3 days & had temps in the 90's. I had active hatch going on so did the best I could & sat them outside to keep warm. A few chicks made it, but my bators actually got TOO warm for a few hours & that's why I lost most of them. NEVER sit your bator in the sun!!!

 

[purewellspring]

Candled again today for culling purposes. Out of 40, I had 10 that looked infertile, and the other 30 looked great! Some are 1/3 or more full of dark shadow, with good air cells, but I can't make out much else, while in others I could really see the chickie pretty well. Even saw two wave at me. SO FUN!!! Afterwards, I called up my courage and cracked the 10 uncertain/probably infertile eggs, and they were all infertile! WOOHOO! I was so scared to crack one open and find a baby. :/ Whew. Man, taking out those 10 eggs gives me WAY more room to move in the incubator, too. Can't believe we're basically half way there. I'm so excited. And my kids are now counting down the days. Tomorrow we only need two hands!

 

[SilkieSensation]

Very good results FeyRaine! I cant wait to see baby duck pics

. How was it candling those dark eggs? I had such a hard time(all mine are green blue olive and dark brown). Just like SilkieSensation said it was my kids who saw movement and veins in a lot of the eggs. Their eyes must have adjusted better.

I'm what they call "night blind." I have really bad sensitivity to lights, especially at night & am often walking around in the dark with absolutely NO vision. I pretty much memorize my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night & pray the kids don't leave anything sitting where it shouldn't be. My eyes adjust to light changes really poorly. I'm supposed to wear tinted glasses to help with the lights (rose colored to boot

) but I just make do & adjust accordingly. Drives my kids nuts when I don't turn lights on & walk thru dark rooms. I can see much better if the lights don't change drastically since my eyes take so long to adjust to the changes.

 

[LuvMyRoo]

Just catching up, can't believe we are almost halfway there! Those are some purty eggs silkie! I candled a couple tonight and still can't see anyhing more than dark masses. Nothing smells though so I will just let them be.

 

[SilkieSensation]

Just catching up, can't believe we are almost halfway there! Those are some purty eggs silkie! I candled a couple tonight and still can't see anyhing more than dark masses. Nothing smells though so I will just let them be.

The bad thing is every time I go over there to pick up eggs for someone else I have to bring more home for myself

I REALLY need a cabinet bator!!!

 

[SarahJaneB]

Yes I know the feeling, it really is hard to believe that we are already halfway to chicks!

Very exciting. Tonight while turning and candling I went ahead and removed the three that looked like they weren't developing. Cracked them open, they were infertile it looked like, no blood and no veins just messy yolk. The other fifteen still look good I think. Some are getting way to dark to see anything though

But I hope that's a good thing. I also cracked and went for the sale from Ideal poultry and bought 20 Pekin Ducklings ... Will be our first time with ducks so it'll be interesting! They'll be shipped on the 23rd and will be getting here around the time my eggs go into lockdown.

 

[SarahJaneB]

Oh, Humidity is Down to 40% finally and temps are holding good at 99 on bottom and 101 on top.

 

[sticknstring]

My LG has been holding temperature really well. I've got it between 100-101 on top as Silkie suggested to me earlier in the thread. My humidity is holding at 35-40. I candled the Marradunas tonight-a few have an actively moving black spot

. Others have gotten dark and much bigger-can see the air cell and some of the other end, everything in between is just a dark blob

. No smell either??? Not sure what to make of this...
The wyandottes all have jacked up air pockets. Lots of blobs in this batch too. I think I have one infertile(clear)-no smell. I'm gonna give this one a few more days. It looks like I may have 2 blood rings too. This is my first time hatching and am getting a little impatient(21 days is just too long of a wait!

). I think I'm going to try some cream legbars after this batch, and maybe more BLRW again if it doesn't work out with the ones in the bator. It has been great reading this thread and seeing everyone's progress!