Hatch-Along - setting eggs tonight or tom who's with me on this

[rarebear]

I opened the bator this morning and got a big whiff of sulphar (sp?). I sniffed my way through 42 eggs and only one was rotten. I also am wondering if others have chicks but so far all the dark brown welsummers dark blobs are getting bigger. I haven't seen one vein, eye or anything else.just a dark blob that is getting bigger along with an air cell that has gotten bigger. They go in lock down in a week. Time will tell. My others have only been in for a week. I can see eyes in 3 of the eggs...but that's it....they are light green Isbars and Swedish Flower Hens. I see nothing much in the Cream Legbars and the Lemon Orps. The anxiety is killing me.

 

[Red Star Rob]

QUESTION!!!! I candled at day 6 or 7 I believe and I could see veins in all of them but 1, and I could see movement in them about 2 days after. One egg is very dark and I haven't been able to see anything from day 1! I thought, I saw some veins on day 7 or 8, but not sure...! Now I am on day 12, and excuse me if this is a stupid question but this my first time, but I can't really see anything in any of them-just this dark blob in all of the eggs! I can see some veins in a couple of them if I tilt if just right (the veins are off to the side a little). IS THIS NORMAL??? Thanks everyone I really hope I didn't mess something up along the lines, but temps and humidity have been perfect!!

Hi Vikki, sounds like everything is on track. I'm a noobie myself, incubating my first set of eggs. Here's a link from BYC where someone chronicled their egg candling from start of incubation to finish. Let us know if your eggs look like their corresponding day picture from the link. As the chicken grows in the egg, less light should be able to get through, especially on weaker light sources. I've seen some videos where people just watch for the movement along the edge of the shadow in the egg near the air cell. Let us know how you make out.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

 

[Red Star Rob]

I opened the bator this morning and got a big whiff of sulphar (sp?). I sniffed my way through 42 eggs and only one was rotten. I also am wondering if others have chicks but so far all the dark brown welsummers dark blobs are getting bigger. I haven't seen one vein, eye or anything else.just a dark blob that is getting bigger along with an air cell that has gotten bigger. They go in lock down in a week. Time will tell. My others have only been in for a week. I can see eyes in 3 of the eggs...but that's it....they are light green Isbars and Swedish Flower Hens. I see nothing much in the Cream Legbars and the Lemon Orps. The anxiety is killing me.

I'm laughing over here because I can feel my heart rate increase while reading the posts that are near hatch time. LOL, I'm getting anxious for you!

Day 13 for me. I didn't candle last night, wasn't feeling well. Will candle tonight though.

 

[chicpoopscooper]

the babies are on the way,so far one has pipped and is peeping strongly....

 

[christybmom9802]

I'm so excited too... I know everyone says not to candle everyday to decrease risk of bacteria but I can't heeeeeeelp it. I want to see whats going on. day 14 here!

 

[Red Star Rob]

I would shine that flashlight all over the egg. To see the air cell you need to shine from the top (blunt end). I am not tipping my eggs because I have shipped eggs with terrible air cells, but normally I gently tip them and shine the light all over to watch for movement, quitters, and such.

Great advice. I think I was so worried about messing something up that I was only candling from the bottom. I feel like such a noob.

Now that I know how to do it it seems like the only way to see the air cell it to have the light source above the air cell, not below it. Oh well, at least for the future I will be able to check earlier in the incubation so that I have something for comparison.

Day 13
Still have 19 out of 34 eggs left with 2 questionable BCM eggs. Same two as on the prior candling that have either a blood ring or dark vessel in the periphery. Don't think that they are getting as dark/opaque as the others. They were also shipped in the same box as the ameraucana eggs were in and only 1 out of 8 of those developed. I'm going to keep them in for 1 or 2 more days and see we're it goes.

 

[Red Star Rob]

the babies are on the way,so far one has pipped and is peeping strongly....

YAYYYY!!!

Pics?

 

[vikkic08]

I think 1 out of 8 is alive. I can only see 1 moving inside the egg. I'm on day 13. I just candled to see if I could see anything. A few of them I could see the blob and some veins, some were small veins that didn't go around the entire egg like in that thread provided above. But a couple of them just seem to not really have any veins or minor veins and the blob would just float to the top or bottom as I moved the egg-like just going with gravity. :-( I don't think that is a good sign! Well, hopefully I get at least 1 chick out of this! That would make it all worth while!

 

[chicpoopscooper]

Quote: Ok these two are a bit tired....But more soon to come.

 

[cyndiloowho]

Examples of my terrible air cells compliments of USPS