Help!! Day 6. Can’t tell if my eggs are fertile!

[Louchick23]

Hi! I am new to egg incubating and I can’t tell if my eggs are fertile. Here is a photo of one of my chicken eggs at day 6. I can tell there is a opaque dark spot. I am still not sure if this is a good sign because I read that you should see visible spider veins in the eggs. I still have a tiny bit of hope because my eggs are brown. So far I can not see any veins in all eggs. Do you guys think that this dark spot is a good sign?

 

[cmom]

You should be able to see some veins. I usually wait until at least day 10 and then you may see the embryo moving. They rest quite a bit too. Good luck and have fun...

 

[Louchick23]

You should be able to see some veins. I usually wait until at least day 10 and then you may see the embryo moving. They rest quite a bit too. Good luck and have fun...

That’s so cool!! !Thanks so much for the help! I’ll check my eggs when they are on day 10. I hope I’ll see something...

 

[cmom]

That was a brown egg..

 

[MGG]

You might need a better flashlight. What is your temp and humidity? Do you have a calibrated thermometer?

 

[Louchick23]

You might need a better flashlight. What is your temp and humidity? Do you have a calibrated thermometer?

My temp spiked today up to 109 degrees. I think it will ok because it lasted for about 3 minutes. My humidity averaged around 52 and my temp was around 100. I was using an iPhone flashlight because I don’t have a proper egg candler. I currently have two digital thermometers in my incubator that are not calibrated. Is there any way I can calibrate my digital thermometers?

 

[cmom]

I have posted this before. I hope it will help you. Also, I think your humidity is a little high. I try to keep mine <40%. That is when I have had my best hatch rates.
Whenever you purchased a new thermometer and about to use it for the first time, you need to calibrate it. Thermometers will also need to be calibrated whenever they are dropped or when going from one temperature extreme to another. Thermometers are a critical measuring equipment's for temperature to ensure good hatch rates.

There are two methods that you could use to calibrate thermometers -

Ice Point Method - Fill a container with crushed ice and water. Ensure that the container have enough crushed ice to provide an environment of 32 degrees F, so you may need to add more ice into the container during the process. It will takes about 4 to 5 minutes for the mixture of water to stabilized. Then insert the thermometer which needs to be calibrated into the appropriate immersion depth. Hold the thermometer away from the bottom and sides of the container to avoid error. If your thermometer is not accurate at 32 degrees F, adjust the thermometer accordingly.

Boiling Point Method - Fill a container with distilled water and heat it up. After the temperature in the water has reached the boiling point, insert the thermometer, be sure to leave at least a two inch gap between the thermometer sensing element and the bottom and sides of the container to avoid error. If your thermometer is not accurate at 212 degrees F, adjust the thermometer accordingly.

There are some thermometers that are not meant to be put in water and water may damage them. This is what I do for these types of thermometers. I fill a glass with crushed ice (NO WATER) and put the thermometer probe around halfway down into the ice and cover with a washcloth. I let the thermometer set in the ice for about 15 to 20 minutes. At that time it should read around 32ºF. Good luck and have fun...

 

[cmom]

Here is a homemade candler I made from a Clamp Lamp Light. I did line the inside of the cardboard I cut out with aluminum foil and a good bright bulb. I also used aluminum tape and taped it good to the lamp. I have also used a toilet paper roll on bright flashlight to candle with. Good luck...

 

[Louchick23]

I just recandled the eggs and they looked exactly the same as yesterday. Today they are on day 7 and I can’t see any embryo or veins. I am starting to lose hope.I am still going to wait until day 10 just to be sure.