Hatching percentage

[JaeG]

No I haven't hatched before. I know that the eggs need to be turned 3 times a day for 18 days and then the humidity is increased and the eggs are locked down. My question was, is there a way to hurt the embryo by too much candling? While candling it may be necessary to turn the egg several times and in different directions in order to see the development of the embryo and can this cause damage to the development of the chick?

When small the embryo floats to the upper most part of the egg, so I have the eggs on their side and look down on the egg from above, put my light behind the egg and I can see what's going on (there's not much to see until day 3-4). Once they get a bit bigger, after the first week, I shine the light in at the fat end of the egg but there's still no reason to turn the egg every which way - it's not going to change what you can see in there. The embryo is deeper inside the egg after that first week but you'll probably see movement in there and as long as you can see veins you know the eggs are alive. If the shells are darker brown or blue or green it can be really hard, if not impossible, to see anything in there past day 5 so with those ones you tend to check on the air cell growth and give them the sniff test (an egg that has gone bad will start to smell).

This is an excellent article with an egg candled daily so you can compare your eggs to the appropriate photo to see if they are on track:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/development-of-a-chicken-embryo-day-by-day.72537/

 

[gimmie birdies]

If hand turning (eggs that don't have saddles) 3x a day first 7 days, after the first 7 you can hand turn 5x a day, the eggs can use the extra oxygen after 7 days. My next batch, (In foam incubator) I am going to dry hatch. (Adding water at lock down.)

I plan on candling on day 7, 10, 18.
Other tips are don't help hatch!!! If you see it wiggle.
oh- and don't help hatch, if it pips and it has been 12-24hrs and no action.
if a chick hatches too early even on it's own it can have a unhealed navel and unabsorbed egg contents.
Oh don't help it out even if the cap is off and the chick is still in the egg, it may still be digesting, and it is good to let a chick kick off it's own shell.
Don't be a helicopter chicken parent, let it just hatch on it's own.

 

[Rooster Giddens]

When small the embryo floats to the upper most part of the egg, so I have the eggs on their side and look down on the egg from above, put my light behind the egg and I can see what's going on (there's not much to see until day 3-4). Once they get a bit bigger, after the first week, I shine the light in at the fat end of the egg but there's still no reason to turn the egg every which way - it's not going to change what you can see in there. The embryo is deeper inside the egg after that first week but you'll probably see movement in there and as long as you can see veins you know the eggs are alive. If the shells are darker brown or blue or green it can be really hard, if not impossible, to see anything in there past day 5 so with those ones you tend to check on the air cell growth and give them the sniff test (an egg that has gone bad will start to smell).

This is an excellent article with an egg candled daily so you can compare your eggs to the appropriate photo to see if they are on track:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/development-of-a-chicken-embryo-day-by-day.72537/

Thank you for sharing! I have watched numerous YouTube videos on egg hatching and the percentage of successful hatches are low.During the candling process they are usually having a hard time seeing the veins or embryo so they twist and turn the eggs which makes me wonder if they are not actually doing more harm than good. I appreciate the input.

 

[RebekahTN]

I'm not a professional hatcher but my thoughts are that if you're twisting and turning the eggs during the candling process you can disrupt the embryo in the process?

The mother hen is twisting and turning the eggs in the nest even better than we can by hand or with a turner. I don't think candling them would be "bad" for the reason you commented about.
I can only think of reasons that would point to it being "good" to candle. With the exception of the possibility of dropping them.

 

[RebekahTN]

Don't be a helicopter chicken parent, let it just hatch on it's own.

YOU, are asking the impossible.... I help them out VERY LITTLE, but when I am home during hatching time I really NEED to be looking in on them often.
The glass front was the deciding factor on which cabinet incubator I bought. I NEED to be able to see.

 

[Rooster Giddens]

The mother hen isn't picking up the egg,she only turns it with her beak. When candling you pick up the egg,usually turn the egg end over end trying to get a birds eye view of the embryo. I have watched numerous hatching videos and the hatching rate was not very good in the end.I realize that there are other variables to why the eggs didn't hatch. I am no eggserpt and I am open to suggestions. Thank you for sharing. I'm trying to make sure that I have successful hatches in the future!

 

[Rooster Giddens]

hey rooster welcome to byc.
The eggs can routinely cool down for up to an hour. I just try not to do it too many times in a day so candling is fine but I try to candle just a few at a time and always close the incubator quickly to avoid letting too much heat escape while candling.

If the incubator underheats it can then try to overcompensate and overheat so try to keep things steady by avoiding heat loss in the incubator but do candle the eggs and don't worry about them cooling down a little while you are doing it.

You might think it is up to the person incubating and this to some extent is true but once things are set up there is very little one can do. I suppose you were talking about mistakes, that is true a lot of mistakes can be made.
In my experience a hatch is either really successful or really bad. This kind of makes sense, either conditions were optimal or they were less than optimal.
Sometimes it comes down to the incubator, not all are built the same and some are better at maintaining an even temperature throughout the whole incubator than others. This might result in some hatching well while others might not.

Nothing much you can do about that.

I find the health of the eggs is vitally important, I probably notice this because I routinely buy eggs on ebay and some are really healthy but sometimes the eggs are small or they are porous and sometimes they are born very weak. I find when this happens these eggs are more prone to not making it throughout incubation and it can make you question if you made a mistake or if the eggs were poor quality or got damaged in the post to start with. Most of the times you never find the answer but as you get more experience and can start ruling out your own mistakes if things go wrong then it might be the eggs themselves.

Hatching out healthy eggs is much more fun, I find they can tolerate mistakes better too. So there is lots of different variables involved.

Sorry, I'm late on reading this post! Thanks for the input! You brought up several great points and I agree. I am trying to research as much as I can about the different types of incubators and by that I mean,mechanical functions. ie...temperature consistency, humidity control and consistency, egg turning ability, etc. Thanks again and if you think of anything you want to share just holler!!

 

[Rooster Giddens]

When small the embryo floats to the upper most part of the egg, so I have the eggs on their side and look down on the egg from above, put my light behind the egg and I can see what's going on (there's not much to see until day 3-4). Once they get a bit bigger, after the first week, I shine the light in at the fat end of the egg but there's still no reason to turn the egg every which way - it's not going to change what you can see in there. The embryo is deeper inside the egg after that first week but you'll probably see movement in there and as long as you can see veins you know the eggs are alive. If the shells are darker brown or blue or green it can be really hard, if not impossible, to see anything in there past day 5 so with those ones you tend to check on the air cell growth and give them the sniff test (an egg that has gone bad will start to smell).

This is an excellent article with an egg candled daily so you can compare your eggs to the appropriate photo to see if they are on track:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/development-of-a-chicken-embryo-day-by-day.72537/

Thanks for sharing! I checked out the article and found it very helpful. Feel free to add anything you may think of. I am here to listen and learn!

 

[Chickenwingwing]

I just finished my first hatch, out of 7 eggs, 2 never developed, I dropped one during candling, and hatched 4

 

[JaeG]

Although it is in the Goose forum this thread is full of excellent information (it's more of an article than anything else) and applies to any incubated birds egg.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/goose-incubation-hatching-guide-completed.491013/

Some people will not assist a chick that is stuck. I always do because it's more than likely my fault that the chick is having trouble and I think it is my responsibility to help them and deal with any resulting issues (of which I've experienced very, very few). I've once had to assist a duckling (who was perfectly perfect) and I've helped a few quail over the years. Using an incubator is artificial and it will never be as ideal as a good broody hen/duck.

This is an excellent assisted hatching article to keep on hand if that's something you want to do: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

The article even has photos of ducks assisting their own ducklings to hatch.