Help! What day??

[Hinerhen]

This egg has been through so much. I got her from a friend who’s chicken decided she didn’t want to be broody anymore on 6/14
I gave her to my broody hen who left her box for 3 minutes and one of my girls went in there and ate the other 3 eggs. I found this one. It was cold so I put her in my bra and ran to the store for an incubator!
She is still moving in there. It’s 6/19 and I’m wondering what day she looks like she is on so I know when to start lockdown. This is my first time ever with eggs.

 

[HeritageFan]

It’s always so hard to judge without a lay date!
And.... I have ducks and turkeys so hopefully someone else will chime in.

It would be helpful to see the air pocket at the fat end of the egg as well.

You also want to watch that air pocket to make sure it is shrinking appropriately (if it isn’t, your humidity may be too high or low)

The size of the air pocket is going to be your best clue for when to raise the humidity and start lockdown....

My ducks hatch about day 28....
Since chickens hatch around day 21, my guess is that egg is about 10-12 days along, without being able to see the air pocket.
You are going to need to watch to make sure that the air pocket is shrinking- I’d probably take a pencil today and mark where it is, and check again in 5 days or so.
Once it suddenly gets a lot bigger, or, if you see an internal pip, (hopefully you see the “draw down” and can be ahead of the internal pip) it’s time to crank the humidity and stop turning/ pull auto turners if you have them.

Pix attached are a duck egg about halfway along, and a turkey that has internally pipped

 

[BarnyardChaos]

From the egg candling chart below, I'd say it's about Day 10:
https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/poultry-health/0/steps/266265

 

[Hinerhen]

It’s always so hard to judge without a lay date!
And.... I have ducks and turkeys so hopefully someone else will chime in.

It would be helpful to see the air pocket at the fat end of the egg as well.

You also want to watch that air pocket to make sure it is shrinking appropriately (if it isn’t, your humidity may be too high or low)

The size of the air pocket is going to be your best clue for when to raise the humidity and start lockdown....

My ducks hatch about day 28....
Since chickens hatch around day 21, my guess is that egg is about 10-12 days along, without being able to see the air pocket.
You are going to need to watch to make sure that the air pocket is shrinking- I’d probably take a pencil today and mark where it is, and check again in 5 days or so.
Once it suddenly gets a lot bigger, or, if you see an internal pip, (hopefully you see the “draw down” and can be ahead of the internal pip) it’s time to crank the humidity and stop turning/ pull auto turners if you have them.

Pix attached are a duck egg about halfway along, and a turkey that has internally pipped

Here is the air pocket. This is my first time doing this. My hygrometer says we are at 100 degrees and 60% humidity. Is that okay???

 

[Hinerhen]

Here is more air sack photos

 

[HeritageFan]

Still hoping more experienced folks jump in on this lol
But since no one else has yet....I’m happy to try

I would -typically- run humidity a little lower during the incubation phase BUT
Those air cells look a little large to me compared to the size of the developing chick.... so. Personally. I’d mark where the air cells are w a light pencil line and leave things as they are for now.

There are soooo many opinions about candling/ handling the eggs....
But. With that flat turner... you really don’t want it running when they are trying to position for hatch...

Maybe this thread will help?
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/judging-incubation-age-help.1463538/

 

[HeritageFan]

I know you are not certain of lay dates, but, do you feel like the eggs appear to be roughly in the same stages of development based on the size of the air cell and the size of the chick?

 

[Hinerhen]

I know you are not certain of lay dates, but, do you feel like the eggs appear to be roughly in the same stages of development based on the size of the air cell and the size of the chick?

There is only one.

 

[HeritageFan]

There is only one.

That helps a lot with your odds in the end
I would still mark the air cell, and check them again in a couple of days.
With the humidity that high, they should have “grown” enough to notice, but not a lot.
If / when the air cells start to get notably larger, personally, I’d go ahead and pull the auto turner, cap the water well if needed for your bator, crank the humidity a bit more (~70%)
Put an X on one side and an O on the other.
Put one of the marks carefully “up”
Check a couple of times a day to see if any of the eggs are moving or have moved (your mark is suddenly off center)
If they aren’t moving I’d probably go ahead and hand turn them 1/4 turn maybe 3x a day if you can, until you see one moving or any sign of an external pip.
If you see an internal pip when you check them- I’d just go w a “top” mark and lock them down (increase humidity and let them be)

Happy hatching