Hot Weather Egg Delivery! Day 2!

[TeePants]

So I candled a different two than the last two, and one of them had something that rolled around the shell as I turned it- is that just the yolk? I couldn't tell if it was the yolk or a detached air cell, but it stayed at the top of the egg so I was a bit worried.

I have them laying on their sides now, but with the fat ends propped up. Should I stop turning this one for a day to give it additional time to settle? The other one I candled had a more definitive looking air cell, as did the two I checked before it.

I made myself put it down and stop meddling with it, since it's so early on and you can't really see much anyway.

 

[Gypsy07]

I'd say keep turning all of them. If an aircell hasn't settled by now, it probably won't settle at all. Also in my experience, eggs with detached air cells are harder to candle near the end of the incubation period. As in, harder to tell if they still look good, cause the detached air cell makes everything look weird in there. So if you only have five eggs in there, don't worry too much about candling them and just leave them ALL in, even ones that you think look like quitters. Unless one is actually rotten and stinking up your bator, leave them all in till the end. I've had eggs that I was certain were goners end up hatching out perfectly healthy chicks...

 

[TeePants]

nevermind!

 

[TeePants]

Well... It's day 4!

According to the candle-ing guide, I should be able to see veins but...took a quick peek, and nothing.

4 of the 5 have either a yolk or a detatched air cell rolling around in them, idk which, and the 5th is much darker than the rest, and...the air cell is in the POINTY END? Or the shell is just really thin there! I'm so confused.

I'm wondering if the toilet paper roll I put on the LED flashlight is too long, because the stuff I'm seeing still is fairly dim. Although to be honest, the 4 out of 5 really just look...clear. I guess we'll see. I wonder if I killed them, the bator killed them, or the shipping killed them.

I don't think I am going to candle anymore, it's way too depressing.

Should have gotten those maran eggs... then at least candling wouldn't be an option!

And I promise I am not constantly removing them from the incubator. NO REALLY!

Sebright eggs were probably not a great first batch though, don't they have notoriously low fertility rates? I think I shot myself in the foot here from the get go.

 

[Shayna]

You're going crazy like me!

I'm incubating my first eggs too, Day 10 here, and I touched my incubator when I shouldn't have. Threw my temps all off. Some of my eggs (they were shipped) have detached air cells, some I could see the yolk moving around, some look clear, some have blood rings, like 3 of 24 actually show veins. I'm obsessing about my humidity. I just want to candle them again, and again , and again! But those most successful in hatching, just let their eggs be. As someone mentioned, sometimes the eggs we don't think are good, will hatch, and heck, I haven't a clue what I'm looking for.

Anyway, sorry I can't help you much, but just wanted to say, welcome to my insanity!

 

[TeePants]

Oh, you couldn't see veins even on day 10? That makes me feel better. It's just that this homemade incubator is small, but we only have FIVE EGGS and I'm scared they're all going to EXPLODE and it will be HORRIBLE or something!

I think, if this goes poorly, I'm asking the DBF to get me a Brinsea Eco Advance for my wedding gift (we're getting married Dec 2nd). Autoturner? YES PLEASE!

 

[djennings]

When I first started incubating silkie eggs, I pratically candled every day, never hurt my hatches, have had 100% hatches.

 

[Shayna]

Quote:
I could see veins on 3, but out of 24 eggs thats not much. I keep wanting to look at them again, because I've read that it's common for eggs to hatch that weren't thought to be good. As a newbie, I could be missing them. I arranged mine from really scary looking eggs to the right (blood rings), clear/questionable eggs to the center, and eggs with veins to the left. This way if a scary one explodes, I have some buffer space in my LG (hopefully). If it's not stinkin, I'm not throwing it out, in the meantime. I've read too many sad stories on here where people went to throw out eggs that were no good, and cracked them open first to find a little developed moving chick they didn't see when candling. I don't think I'd recover from that!
I too am tempted to geta Brinsea someday! What a great wedding gift! Congrats by the way on the upcoming wedding!

 

[TeePants]

Thanks!

Ooooh, you have a LG? Does it have the auto turner? I JUST found out today that Tractor Supply has them and the auto turners for ~90 bucks all told. I got the DBF to promise if this goes badly that he will let me get one. Does it work well for you?

 

[Shayna]

Well, this is my first time using it, so time will tell. But... my eggs spent 4 days in the mail and arrived in a bashed up box, so even if I don't get a good hatch rate this time around, it'll be hard to blame the incubator. Yes, I do have an egg turner, which is working really well. And I also had my husband put in a pc fan. I set the temperature a good week before my eggs arrived to make sure it was stable for eggs. I don't have any problems with it doing ok with humidity and holding temperature when the room temp is stable. Unfortunately my old house doesn't hold a very steady temp, and I keep the windows open. One little touch of the knob can really, REALLY throw the temps out of whack. That's the worst part... If you find a stable temp place in your home, like a closet, and get your temp way ahead of time, allowing days for it to stabilize then DO NOT TOUCH THE TEMP - it actually works pretty well I think. Some people have great success with them. Just can't speak for myself yet.