Manna Pro Hatch-A-Long! - First Sponsor Participated Hatch-A-Long – Set on 4/22

[AinaWGSD]

Yep, update when the mood strikes. Most of us update after we candle, or after something happens, or we see something funny happen next to the incubator.

Candled tonight when I rotated, day 5 (or 4 1/2 I guess if you want to be technical since we set at 11am on Sunday). Most of the eggs I can't see much going on, though most of them seem to have darker masses where the yolks are and I can see veining in several of them. The best news though is that out of the 12 eggs I knew might not be fertile at all (the breeder didn't charge us for them when we picked up, he said we could pay him later if they aren't infertile!) there were only two that looked completely clear! And at least three where I could see signs of veining. Yay!

 

[AinaWGSD]

I'm so happy right now! Candled tonight, and all but two of the 23 eggs are showing definite signs of development!

The breeder we got our eggs from said that the eggs from the B2 pen may not be fertile, as he had zero development of eggs from that pen on the last three settings, but he was hopeful that the problem had been resolved. Looks like he was right! The two clear eggs were B2's, but that's still better development/fertility than we had with eggs from the same pen back in January (I think about half of them were clear to start with back then but I don't remember for sure).

 

[Manna Pro Laura]

Ok, so we just candled (Day 10) and I'm not sure what to make of it... Most of the eggs looked like this picture (although this was one of the few white eggs that had better visibility)... Previously when I have incubated eggs at home I could see veins, but my light might have been brighter than this one. Anyone want to tell me what this means? I'm especially concerned because I have had a difficult time regulating the temperature and humidity in this new incubator. The brinsea I used at home was definitely more stable. Thoughts? Am I going to have a dud hatch??

 

[Manna Pro Laura]

Well, we just threw out 13 eggs that appeared to either be no longer developing or were never developing... It's not looking good for this hatch at all. There may be something wrong with the incubator, as no matter what I do the temperature keeps changing (which is especially bad when I'm not around all the time to monitor it).

Even though I have had great hatch rates in my home incubator, I'm not very optimistic about the office hatch.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Laura, I'm sorry to hear that your hatch may not be going well. By chance, were a majority of the eggs you tossed the shipped eggs? I know that shipping can be really hard on eggs, even when the seller packages them really well. Some people have better luck if they let the eggs sit undisturbed for 24-48 hours before setting them in the incubator, or with not turning the auto turner on for the first 3 days or so. But sometimes the eggs just get so shaken up that no matter what precautions or special handling you give them when you set them they just aren't able to make it. Shipped eggs are always a gamble, no matter how carefully packed they are or how carefully you treat them.

Another thing, I personally wait until there is absolutely no denying that the egg is a dud before I toss them. Especially the darker eggs. I've had a few that I had thought weren't developing go on to hatch.

The problems may also lay in the incubator. Other than the temperature fluctuations from the vibrations of the turner and big changes in room temperature if the air or heat wasn't on, I've never had too much trouble with my LG styrofoam incubator. But there are a lot of people who report having really bad temperature swings even when they aren't using an auto turner or having environmental temperature changes to deal with. In the end, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best. I hope the rest of your eggs make it to lock down and many healthy chicks hatch for you.

 

[jlynnet]

I tried to candle last night, but the eggs are so dark it's hard to tell. I only looked at 5 of them. Hopefully I get some internal pips on Monday or Tuesday!

 

[ajneal30]

I candled yesterday and have 36 developing eggs out of 46. The ten I tossed were not fertile and had no development at all. I have 30 in the incubator and 6 under the broody. All due to hatch within a few days of each other.

 

[Happy Chooks]

I'm not really candling mine, as they are under a broody. I did take a quick peek into a couple and saw that they are developing. She did squish 2 eggs early on though. So, I'm down to 10.

 

[Alaska Fowl INC]

DO YOU KNOW IF YOU OFFICE HAS PROGRABLE THERMOSTATS. SOME OFFICE HAVE THEM SET TO COME ON HOURS BEFORE YOU GET TO THE OFFICE AND LOWER THEM AFTER HRS...JUST A THOUGHT.THAT BATOR SHOULD WORK IF ROOM TEMP ARE STABLE...

 

[kian]

I attempted to candle some of mine (under a broody) but they are such dark shells that I couldn't see anything. Hatch day is Sunday!