im confused.

[amberoxo]

okay,
we had been keeping our chickens caged, but since its been so hot recently, we've let them free range. & since then, two hens have took to sitting on their eggs.
one hen started sitting on the first and stopped last night. she did really well until last night. so, i decided id incubate the eggs. since we have never raised chickens, we dont have an incubator. but, i put the eight eggs in a steel bowl with a light. not the best, i know.

but, i dont know if the embryos are alive or not.
we tried candling them, but i dont know what im looking for.
id really like to save the chicks, but i dont know how.

help?

 

[tiffanyh]

It would take at least 3 days before you would see any veins on most eggs. Youd have to set them up at 100F and a humidity of 50% to get things moving.

 

[Fancy Feather Poultry]

What your doing is not gonna work they need proper humidity and heat, you wont be able to see anything in the egg if the hen was only sitting on her eggs fo 1 day, if you dont got a incubator or a homemade one, or have some where that at 99 degrees and 60% humdity, you wont be able to do it.

 

[silkiechicken]

Check out the links here and search incubating eggs. It is very easy to "cook" the eggs under a lamp or have them so cool they just stop deeloping. https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-howto.html