is this normal? =/ candling photos - first time incubatin

[MaineiacJay]

i have a little giant still air incubator with an egg turner and this is my first time trying to incubate eggs but i dont think im doing a good job of it =/ i feel like the temp in the incubator isnt consistent. i have a digital thermometer inside that i am pretty sure is accurate (checked it against others and it was correct each time) and a aquarium thermometer in a bag of water (i didnt have any wigglers). i also have a hydrometer to judge the humidity. the water reads just under 100F and the temp inside the incubator is around 96F but that seems like a big difference. i am going to buy new thermometers as soon as i can. the hydrometer is around 40-45

anyways, the first day, we had some trouble getting the temp right and i think we were too concerned about getting it perfect and we kinda played with it. it never dropped or rose more than a couple degrees but im still worried.

i candled the eggs tonight on day 4 and i not sure if what im seeing is normal and it concerns me. i see veins on most of them but also what looks like a dark ring and thats where the veins stop. it doesnt look right, but ive never incubated eggs before so im not sure =/ i also have one that looks all cracked inside and i candled them the first day before they went in and none were cracked like that....

so what do you think? should i keep them going or do they look bad?


this one shows the ring really well. it looks like blood or something... it has veins too but they are hard to see here...


this one shows the veins really well, but it also has a slight ring like the above, just not as prevalent


and again with the veins and the ring.

 

[ThaJuicyJuice]

The veins are a good sign but the ring is not. Don't candle so soon. It makes one too anxious. There is a lot of science and research that i've read about the rings. A lot of conclusions point to bacterial blooms. But I am sure you don't want to hear that. If you are concerned about inconsistent temps in little giant, then you should be. These still air incubators operate creating thermal layers, where the top of the incubator by the heating element may be at 130 degrees F while by the egg its 95. Pockets and layers of uncirculated air are not natural and rarely exist in the world of true incubating (broody hen) By a cheap pc fan, or rip one out of a computer, use a 5 v old charger around some where and teach yourself how to wire it up. Have it blowing upwards. When you do this you will turn your cheap incubator into a automatic hatching machine... or almost.

 

[MaineiacJay]

thank you for the reply. my husband knows how to wire up a pc fan and i think we have one around somewhere. is that something i should do with this hatch or would that change the temp too much? should i continue with this hatch or abandon it and start over with the pc fan in place?

 

[RedPulletMama]

The first one is a blood ring. It usually means that the embryo died. The others look fine. Candle again in 3- 4 days when things are a little clearer.

 

[ThaJuicyJuice]

When I first added the fan it was mid incubation. The temps jumped up beyond mention-able numbers. I still had a wonderful hatch though despite this spike. So if you do add it, turn down heat tremendously and your way up instead of backwards. The fan works to push the hottest air down and suck the coolest air up.