June Hatch A Long

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Today was day 20, tomorrow is hatch day. I set the eggs early in the morning if I remember correctly so I may actually have some more hatch in the middle of the night. I wrote it down... somewhere. Lol

Well, I’d like ours to wait and hatch normally on day 21, that would be tomorrow night at 10 PM, if I’ve counted to day 21 properly (they were set at 10 PM in a Saturday). However, our last hatch was early, beginning at the start of day 20 and all 12 hatched on that day. And that was totally incubated by the broody! Makes me wonder about the day 21 mark, since multiple people claim that their broodies hatch on day 20... So I’ll try not to worry about it the possibility that we are having an early hatch. Deapite the fan, my incubator temps did vary by location ( see pic) so I rotated egg position twice a day... Now I have the guinea eggs in a section that’s more consistent. Did a quick 7 day candle and I have four clear guinea eggs, I think, plus maybe some blood rings (guinea eggs are hard to candle because the shell is so thick), so I suspect I’ll be lucky to get six keets. Why did I only grab 12 eggs??? What am I going to do with a group of only 6 or fewer keets???

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well, I’d like ours to wait and hatch normally on day 21, that would be tomorrow night at 10 PM, if I’ve counted to day 21 properly (they were set at 10 PM in a Saturday). However, our last hatch was early, beginning at the start of day 20 and all 12 hatched on that day. And that was totally incubated by the broody! Makes me wonder about the day 21 mark, since multiple people claim that their broodies hatch on day 20... So I’ll try not to worry about it the possibility that we are having an early hatch. Deapite the fan, my incubator temps did vary by location ( see pic) so I rotated egg position twice a day... Now I have the guinea eggs in a section that’s more consistent. Did a quick 7 day candle and I have four clear guinea eggs, I think, plus maybe some blood rings (guinea eggs are hard to candle because the shell is so thick), so I suspect I’ll be lucky to get six keets. Why did I only grab 12 eggs??? What am I going to do with a group of only 6 or fewer keets???

My broodies always seem to hatch a bit earlier as well. They actually hatch faster in general, from pip to chick seems high speed under a broody. Maybe it's her encouraging?

 

[LuckyCluckyCA]

I’m on day 14 and this is what I got- hard to see thru those brown eggs! And I’m new at it
There are 6 eggs 2 pics of number 5 - I was told to look for spider webs- anyone have anything else to share w me? I gave myself a very upset tummy when I last candled then cause they were alljust half dark half light on a diagonal- after I got home I went back to work and took a better flashlight and I could see more. It was stressful. My very first batch of eggs so comments suggestions welcome

 

[LuckyCluckyCA]

I’m on day 14 and this is what I got- hard to see thru those brown eggs! And I’m new at it
There are 6 eggs 2 pics of number 5 - I was told to look for spider webs- anyone have anything else to share w me? I gave myself a very upset tummy when I last candled then cause they were alljust half dark half light on a diagonal- after I got home I went back to work and took a better flashlight and I could see more. It was stressful. My very first batch of eggs so comments suggestions welcome

I really don’t know how to control humidity in my incubator. If I add a drop of water is reading at 75 if it’s dry is at 25. I don’t get it. I hatched my first in a homemade incubator with great results and I decided to buy the real thing and the humidity is way too high. Wish me luck. I set 15 bantam eggs only three were fertile. I’ll need a lot of luck for this little guys to make it out. Hatch day is June 5th
The incubator brand is hatchmate from amazon

the same happens in my plastic incubator I got as a gift humidity either too high or two low

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I’m on day 14 and this is what I got- hard to see thru those brown eggs! And I’m new at it
There are 6 eggs 2 pics of number 5 - I was told to look for spider webs- anyone have anything else to share w me? I gave myself a very upset tummy when I last candled then cause they were alljust half dark half light on a diagonal- after I got home I went back to work and took a better flashlight and I could see more. It was stressful. My very first batch of eggs so comments suggestions welcome

Hi Lucky, well I see a dark spot that is probably an embryo in many of your eggs! I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s up with your air cells, maybe because of the position of the egg and light? Or, could these be shipped eggs? How dark are the egg shells? Have you tried looking at some images and videos of day 14 eggs? The light goes through the air cell. I’m used to holding it so the air cell stays upwards, but some people turn the egg so the air cell is down. Nonetheless, the standard pictures are the light through the fat end where the air cell is. It does take some experience to be confident! If you could candle a brown table egg from the fridge or store that might help you see what it will look like if there is no embryo. By day 14, you can toss any “clear” eggs, those that just show yolk and whites but no chick. The hard part is looking for blood rings and early death. I’m hesitant to toss those unless they smell (always toss those!) or its a bit later, like day 18 and I can see that the embryo is not taking up the whole egg like it should. Here’s a video I found of a day 14 candle. I think that videos help you to see what you are looking for better when you’re starting out.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

the same happens in my plastic incubator I got as a gift humidity either too high or two low

I have a styrofoam incubator with water trays at the bottom. I use a syringe to drip a small amount (5-10 ml) of water into a tray, using the smaller tray if I’m pretty close to the humidity I want, or the larger tray if I need to increase the humidity by quite a bit, since it’s the surface area of water that determines the humidity.. is your incubator similar?

 

[LuckyCluckyCA]

Hi Lucky, well I see a dark spot that is probably an embryo in many of your eggs! I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s up with your air cells, maybe because of the position of the egg and light? Or, could these be shipped eggs? How dark are the egg shells? Have you tried looking at some images and videos of day 14 eggs? The light goes through the air cell. I’m used to holding it so the air cell stays upwards, but some people turn the egg so the air cell is down. Nonetheless, the standard pictures are the light through the fat end where the air cell is. It does take some experience to be confident! If you could candle a brown table egg from the fridge or store that might help you see what it will look like if there is no embryo. By day 14, you can toss any “clear” eggs, those that just show yolk and whites but no chick. The hard part is looking for blood rings and early death. I’m hesitant to toss those unless they smell (always toss those!) or its a bit later, like day 18 and I can see that the embryo is not taking up the whole egg like it should. Here’s a video I found of a day 14 candle. I think that videos help you to see what you are looking for better when you’re starting out.

Every one had black dots swimming around like aliens last week - now just more veins and some biogr black blobs that I hope aren’t big dead chicks - ty for video I’ll watch it now

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Every one had black dots swimming around like aliens last week - now just more veins and some biogr black blobs that I hope aren’t big dead chicks - ty for video I’ll watch it now

If you can see distinct veins then the egg is good! Have you been weighing eggs for water loss? If not, look at your air cells and make sure that they are big enough, meaning that the egg has lost enough water weight. If your air cells are small, and some look small to me, then decrease humidity. You don’t have much time to change air cells this late in incubation, so this is probably your most critical decision that you need to make at this point. Good luck with your eggs!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Every one had black dots swimming around like aliens last week - now just more veins and some biogr black blobs that I hope aren’t big dead chicks - ty for video I’ll watch it now

Found some pics of my 14 day candle on brown eggs. The blue egg (last picture) shows the drawn on outline of the air cell, which I thought looked okay, on a 14 day developing egg. I’m also uploading a picture of a brown egg that was clear (first picture). The air cell is oriented up, and the light is through the air cell. You see yolk as a darker layer at the bottom, whites are lighter on top. No embryo or veins, just a lot of glowing light. Note also that the air cell didn’t really develop. The last pic is a brown egg with an embryo. I thought the embryo didn’t look right, as there was a blob at top and bottom but nothing really defined, but I kept it because dark brown eggs are so hard to see through. You can also see that it developed an air cell, but the shape should have been like in the blue egg. Instead, the air cell is wonky because it was damaged in shipping. At day 18, I was sure this egg was dead because it hadn’t gotten any bigger. I opened it and found an embryo that had died at maybe 7-10 days.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Good morning! I woke up to 2 True Blues and 3 Mottled Orpingtons that hatched during the night. Lol, so much for our CCL theory @jolenesdad .
I do see another pipped CCL but I can't tell on the fourth because they've been playing chick soccer.