Is it time to candle and discard? :(

[dancingchicken77]

ok i've got a new r-com 3 incubator (auto-turn, auto-temp, auto-humidity, you just set the breed of bird and press start). it's got 3 pekin (cochin) bamtam eggs from a very good local breeder. i am an almost total newbie with no clue what i'm dong.

i candled them at about day 1, and couldn't really see anything. in the first one was like all i could see was the odd speckle of bright light, although in 2 i felt like i could see a darker shape in there.

i'm now just into day #22, and no pipping or action from any of the 3 eggs. i'm loathe to open the bator and drop the humidity, but is it time to candle them and check do you think? or should i wait a bit longer?

thanks if you can help. this waiting...and then no joy...has been awful

cheers,

carrie

 

[chickenchickenbulkbulk]

Hey Carrie, your eggs just may not be fertile. I'm not for sure. It wouldn't hurt to candle them. Wait a couple more days. I have had them hatch 3days before to 3 days after the 21st hatch date. I had incubated 4 dozen and checked them on the 10th day. 12 of the white leg horn eggs were not fertile. The other are brown eggs and hard to see in side. So I will have to wait on them. I wish you luck. Mine are due to hatch on the 17th of this month. DJ Don't let this discourage you. If they don't hatch try it again.

 

[swtangel321]

awww, sorry your eggs arent hacthing for you !!

I would give them a few more days.... If you dont smell and weired smells I would just leave them alone till at least day 23.

 

[what was i thinking]

when was the last time you candled. you said day one was that it? if you haven't candled since, i would candle to make sure there is something in there that i was waiting for. that is just me, i would hate to put myself thru the waiting, if nothing was going to happen.

 

[dancingchicken77]

ok i just candled them. more than 1/2 way through day 22. i'm new to this, so i'm not very good at it.

all 3 looked pretty similar. couldn't see any veins. i could see the air thing at the fat end, and i could see a dark shape. i didn't think the shape looked as big as it should be - didn't fill the egg. it did look big from one side of the egg in all of them though - maybe that was when it had it's back to the shell, and the other side where it was hard to see the shape at all was the other side?

in 2 i couldn't see any movement. in 1 i thought i could, although honestly i find it hard to be sure of anything when candling - i'm such a raw newbie to this.

so - what do you think? i'm hoping like crazy that it's just a matter of them taking extra long to finish getting ready to hatch. is it possible they stopped growing in the eggs for some reason? like human embryos can die in utero part-way through development?

 

[sara]

If it were me, I'd let them go until day 23. After that either pip one, and see if you can determine any signs of life, or just crack it open and see.

Incubating can be a challenge until you've done it a while, and get used to what you are doing/looking for.

 

[dancingchicken77]

thank you guys. anyone else got some advice for me?

because of the time of day at which i set the incubator, day #23 just started about 1/2 an hour ago. still no sign. should i wait maybe 1/2 day longer, and then maybe pip the eggs a little to see if there's any sign of life?

this is so HARD! :|

 

[willowcol]

I think I would try to pip one and see, but thats me. They are your eggs, if you want to pip one, pip one. Can you hear any peep's at all?

 

[Solsken Farm]

Anything today? Keep us posted.

 

[dancingchicken77]

yep, thanks for asking. i posted an update in a new thread called "all 3 eggs were duds"