Incubating chicken eggs day 7 questions?

[oliviaandjosh4]

This is my first time incubating eggs and I am using one egg from our New Hampshire & four Lavender Orpington shipped eggs. They have been in the incubator since Monday so today marked 7 days. I have candled them a few times but didn't really know what to be looking for. I did a little research and candled them this afternoon and things aren't looking too good. I will post a few pictures to show what I am talking about, but so far it looks like three have detached air cells (all Orpington) and the only other Orpington egg's air cell is intact but it appears to be a red line in the egg which I am not sure if that means it is dead or not. Also, none of the eggs look like they have veins forming in them they all just have a big dark area (I'm assuming the yolk) on the inside. I purchased the shipped eggs off Ebay, they shipped on Saturday and I got them that following Monday. When I got them I let them sit big side up in an egg carton for about 12 hours or so. The incubator temp has stayed at about 100-102 F & the humidity about 36-40. I don't know if it was just none of the eggs were fertile and I got ripped off or what. Please tell me what you think by the pictures. Any advice appreciated! Thanks!
! Just a dark blob, most look like this



Red line if you look close. Does that mean early death or is it a vein?

 

[SA Farm]

It's hard to say without seeing for myself, but I would probably give them another 3 or 4 days, then try again, before I would consider tossing them. Often it's best to use local eggs as shipped eggs very commonly have problems.

 

[boomchicken]

Maybe if you cup your hand around the light source the egg details will show up better in the photo.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Okay that is what I will do thank you for replying. None of them stink at all or anything. Only reason I got shipped eggs is because I am really wanting some Lavender Orpington. Bad decision for my first time incubating but that is the type of chicks I am wanting.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

I bought a little LED flashlight egg candler off of Ebay but haven't really been able to pick up good details other than air cells, but thank you I will try that.

 

[boomchicken]

I have a cheap LED flashlight that's pretty weak but my eggs are white so easier to see through compared to the brown,blue or olive types. See the faint glow at the base. That's my hand as I'm trying to block out all the direct light from the flashlight so I can see the detail of my egg. In this case it was an early death with a blood ring.

Currently my eggs are at day 16 and they are so dark I was about to give up seeing any detail but found that if I angle the light into the airsac and cover the flashlight and the air sack part of the egg, I can see the very edge of the dark area lit up and I can see veins. I'm assuming if there are veins with blood in them, then they are probably still be alive. But this is my first time too so who knows?

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Thank you for explaining that to me! I am going to try that and see if I can see more detail.

 

[oliviaandjosh4]

Candled eggs again today and was able to make out more details but still not seeing too much which makes me think all of my eggs are duds. One for sure I saw a very visible blood ring so I threw it out. I must say incubating eggs is a lot harder than what I had thought. I didn't think it would be easy but I did not know basically all of my eggs wouldn't develop. Very depressing. I still have 4 eggs in the incubator just in case by some miracle they are developed. But i highly doubt it. Here are pics from candling:

OBVIOUS BLOOD RING


WHAT LOOKS TO ME TO BE A BLOOD RING FORMING


POSSIBLY YET ANOTHER BLOOD RING WHO KNOWS

 

[boomchicken]

Egg 1: I agree with you
Egg 2: Looks bad
Egg 3: Looks real iffy. Does the dark shadow move slowly as you rotate the egg? (bad sign I think) Plus no veining it looks like, especially at day 9 should be rather dark.

I'm sorry


Regarding incubator usage, I have no clue. I'm using my broody Australorp hen who suddenly decided to hatch golf balls so I put some eggs under her. From what I read here, shipped eggs could have varying success rates due to the random handling from the PO.

I grabbed my eggs from the store which some people find strange (and others find cool) but it was only around $4-5/dozen and if you are near a store with fertile eggs, it could be an economical way to "debug" your incubator. I figure the egg distributors for grocery stores are more gentle than the PO since egg shipment is their main function and no one wants to buy cracked eggs or eggs with scrambled yokes. But then again, I dunno if any of them will actually hatch. They are "due" this friday.