JANUARY HATCH-A-LONG come join in

[txmel]

i quickly open the incubator and take out one egg at a time. i have a closet that is right next to the incubator that i do my candleing so the egg is only out maybe half a min. or so. then i replace it and take out the next. very quick and i try and time it with turning ( i hand turn ). has worked so far this is my second time hatching eggs and its a homemade styrofoam incubator. my first hatch was 10 out of 13, this one is looking to be 5 out of 8. hope this makes sense and helps

 

[JanieMarie]

I've always taken them out 1 at a time. They don't cool too much and I figure a broody hen is getting off the nest occasionally to eat etc. anyway. I would think taking the whole turner out would run the chance of disrupting the trays in the turner and maybe dropping some eggs. Also when you shine the flashlight in I usually can see much better by shining the flashlight in the large aircell end. Especially when the get bigger.

 

[chicken stalker]

I also have a brinsea eco 20. I'm candling on wednesday (my day 6).....that's when I'll need to refill the water resevoirs. I take the whole basket out and candle them all. If you have a led flash light sometimes you can just put it right on the egg while in the basket to see if there is viening. It takes a long time for eggs to cool down to "death" levels. Plus broodies usually get off the nest for 10-15 minutes a day to eat, drink, maybe a little dust bath then hop back on.

 

[Madcap621]

Might be a little off topic but how do you check humidity in your Brinse eco 20? I found one new for$99. I had been thinking of buying another turner for my 2nd hand-me-down Hova-bator, but could put those $$ toward the Brinsea. Please jump in w/opinions, folks.

Truth to tell, I am sitting here trying to get my nerve up to candle my eggs. It's day seven. I had my babies before ultrsound was invented, but think I must be fealing like a newly pregnant mom about to have her first ultrasound!

Wondering if this is normal? I think I'll go run my errands first!

What if all 26 are clear?! 6 are purely experimental - mottled shells w/day of set candling, but I really want the others to be fertile and developing!

 

[Madcap621]

Another question - maybe nuts -

. When you candle at 7 days [&/or 14 days], and pull/open the clear ones, can you scramble them and feed them to the chickens/dogs?

Inquiring mind wants to know.

 

[chickenmeadow]

I see there are lots of questions about candling. Good to see people asking questions; that's how we learn & even keep learning from hearing new questions that we hadn't considered. Relax & put your anxious energy into researching your questions (use the Search box above on this page to see what others have to say).

The hens get off of the nests & the eggs start to cool some until they get back. So just candle as little as possible & quickly, then put the lid back on. They can take a little brief temp drop. I hand turn my eggs & candle while turning 3 different days before "lockdown." The temp drops during the turning & doesn't seem to hurt. I like to fumble as little as possible when candling & just do them all at once briskly but carefully, as not to drop an egg. Taking the lid off & on is like fumbling for me, too risky, too much handling.

I like to grasp my handheld sized 9 Led flashlight (cost under $10) with my left hand with light facing up, pinch my thumb & first finger together to form a circle, lay an egg sideways in this circle with the wide air cell end to the left, then look for the 3 main things. Air cell on left, dark mass &/or veining in the middle after the air cell, then the egg white liquid on the right pointed end. It is so interesting to see each of these 3 areas change as the next candling day comes. With the air cell on the left, just tilt the flashlight towards the air cell end a little to see it better in the early stages.

I candle at day 7 or 10 (try not to freak out about seeing blood rings or whatever, I used to see them all of the time when they weren't even there, be patient & wait till next candling), then at day 14 (eases the curiosity & weed out the obviously clear/unfertile eggs), then again at day 18 (which is your last chance to candle, remove yucky eggs, raise humidity & the "lockdown" of incubator, not to be opened until all chicks hatch). In my December hatch on day 7 & day 10 there were 3 of the 6 eggs that seemed much more developed with more dark mass, but the others caught up later when all 6 hatched; didn't know that could happen.

See this great site on egg progression, allthough my small 9 Led flashlight does not pick up all of these details or all movement of the chick, it gives you the idea of what stages there are & what to look for. Don't give up too early on the possible chick inside by cracking them open around day 7 or 10, wait till day 14 or so & give it a chance in case you didn't see it right. The egg is an amazing miracle!

*Candling (see #6)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=3364955#p3364955

*Egg progression (see #1)
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261876&p=1

*Air cell
http://www.poultryclub.org/VHIncubation.htm

Madcap621: I don't toss eggs at day 7 & wait till day 14 or so. At that point it's 2 wks that the eggs has been under heated conditions, so my dogs don't get to eat them; but I do crack open every one over a papertowel at the trash can to see if anything different is in there to learn by. Also, I got my "Springfield digital indoor thermometer with hygrometer" on ebay for under $15, you can calibrate the hygrometer at home easily.

 

[Kerjack]

I candled yesterday which was day 13 and checked on that website you suggested. There is no way my eggs are that developed. I can still see through the egg, it has a dark mass in the middle, but it's no where near what you see in those pics.

. But all 8 have dark masses, but one looks all wrong with no air cells. So I'm not sure how this is all going to go.

 

[Cherlyn]

I just set a dozen buff orpington eggs on the evening of the 9th - so due on the night of the 30th. I am really rooting for these guys - they traveled across blizzard-suffering England but thankfully only took two days to get from there to here.

Will post candling photos in a few days.

~Cherlyn

 

[LaSombra]

I just got my blue/black/splash ameraucana eggs in the mail today! Will be setting them this evening after a little "rest" after their travel. I'm having a staggered hatch, I guess

1st brood will be around the 19th and these will hopefully hatch 3 weeks from tomorrow...date? I guess Feb 2. Will have to double check with the calendar, though

 

[countrylife]

I just set 15 of my own BCM yesterday for a 31st hatch