March hatch along

[Joshua G]

I can see darks spots in the air cell of my duck eggs and the air cell has shifted. Does this mean that there has been an internal pip?
Also, is it normal for ducks and chickens to pip a few days before the hatch? Even a day before lockdown?
Thanks.

 

[carcar80]

Sounds like internal pips to me. Good luck!

 

[Joshua G]

Sounds like internal pips to me.

Good luck!

Ok, Thanks.
32 out of 52 have pipped so far. Can't wait until the hatch.

 

[SkylineFarms]

Skyline those look great! Are they pink? I've heard of favs but not familiar.

They're light brown, but under certain light they do look kind of pinkish.

Eggs have been in the incubator since yesterday morning. Has anyone else lowered the temperature in their Genesis? It's preset at 100.0 but I felt like it should be closer to 99.5, so I compromised and lowered it to 99.8. Not sure what difference that will make, but my best hatches were in the Brinsea I used to have that was set at 99.5.

 

[BroosterSpringsteen]

I'm on day 16 here. I candled on 14, and all looks good! I'm very excited for these Olive Eggers. I can't believe Monday is lockdown! I'm so busy with classes, I haven't had the time to obsess like I usually do. Hopefully my luck will be better than last year. All of my hatches went pretty well, but out of the dozens of chicks I hatched, 80% turned out to be roosters

Here's a tip for those of you with very dark eggs. Use a very dark room. Give your eyes plenty of time to adjust to the dark, and then watch your candled egg for at least half a minute. You may not be able to see veins, but I find that even on the darkest eggs, I can see a shadow shifting inside the egg, especially during the second week. After that, the chick gets a little more crowded, and it's hard to see movement. I lucked out last year and found a used Ovascope for cheap. It has a closed compartment, and you can look at the egg in total darkness any time of day.

 

[blueflag]

Candled a few of the eggs today. The three I checked were all looking good! Even an older one that had been on the counter for 12 days prior to setting - which surprised me. The temp dropped too much, though (down to 94F) and I didn't want to have it open any longer to do more. Strange draft in the room today even though it's not windy out and it's taking forever to get back up to temp. Hope no damage was done. Air sacks looked a bit big, so I'm adding a little water - thinking my attempt at dry incubation is perhaps a little too dry.

Good luck everyone!

 

[johnderosa1]

Candled a few of the eggs today. The three I checked were all looking good! Even an older one that had been on the counter for 12 days prior to setting - which surprised me. The temp dropped too much, though (down to 94F) and I didn't want to have it open any longer to do more. Strange draft in the room today even though it's not windy out and it's taking forever to get back up to temp. Hope no damage was done. Air sacks looked a bit big, so I'm adding a little water - thinking my attempt at dry incubation is perhaps a little too dry.

Good luck everyone! 

Congrats! A little temp drop like that shouldn't hurt a thing... A broody hen has to get off her eggs to eat and drink so a drop in temp for a little while is quite normal.

 

[matlock585]

I just did my 7 day candling. I took out four, two were clear and two looked like early quitters. Two or three were questionable but I let them keep going. So that leaves me with 32 in the bator, and 29 that look great. My air cells are also larger than I'd like to see so I'm raising the humidity. 2 of the 4 I took out were rhodebars, that hurt my feelings a little, but I've still got at least 10 more still going so not so bad I guess.
Hope everyone else is doing good.

 

[johnderosa1]

I just did my 7 day candling. I took out four, two were clear and two looked like early quitters. Two or three were questionable but I let them keep going. So that leaves me with 32 in the bator, and 29 that look great. My air cells are also larger than I'd like to see so I'm raising the humidity. 2 of the 4 I took out were rhodebars, that hurt my feelings a little, but I've still got at least 10 more still going so not so bad I guess.
Hope everyone else is doing good.

Great news !!! It looks like we are in the same place just 1 week apart... 32 in the bator with 29 developing well + 3 questionable.

 

[jphendrix]

Hope everyone's hatches turn out great! I am getting nervous over here LOL! Just put 24 eggs in lockdown last night. Due to hatch on Tue. I am so excited!