My class is very worried! HELP

[micmse]

I set 31 eggs in our hovabator on Tuesday and things seem to be going well. The temp is staying right around 100 and the humidity is around 40%. On Friday we saw some veins, but today I came in from the weekend and candled one in hopes we could see the embryo that moved to it's left side and pulled out of the yolk. All I see is the veins and then a red ring all the way around the entire yolk. The other teachers, who are using different incubators, have veins and then the embryo and eye are very easy to see. Their temperature run higher than mine so is it possible that there eggs are just developing faster. I can not find an embryo in any of the 15 eggs the school purchased for me. They are white leg horns. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Stephanie and my second graderrs

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

Hi Stephanie -

A red ring around the yolk is called a blood ring. It's not a good sign. Check out

http://shilala.homestead.com/candling.html

With white eggs, you should be able to see something by now. If you have strong clear veining and no blood rings, you're probably OK. The embryo can soemtimes be difficult to see if it happens to be on the other side of the yolk.

It sounds like your incubator is running at the right temp - it should be 99.5-100 degrees, so don't worry about that!

 

[klf73]

on day 6 you should clearly see a lot of veining and an embryo. what are you using to candle?

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Quote:
Does the incubator have a fan in it, aka forced air? If not, and its a still air, your temp needs to be around 101-102.

 

[micmse]

It has a fan and I have always kept it at the factory settings. It is staying a consistent temperature so I am not sure I want to mess with the temp. The ring does not look a blood ring. It goes all the way around the edge of the yolk. Could I have gotten a batch of eggs with bacteria? The other two classes got eggs from the same place and they are fine. I can clearly see the embryo on the bantam eggs.

Thanks!

 

[GreenGoddess]

As long as you are seeing veining, ANY at all, keep it in the incubator! You may just be seeing the edge of the yolk and depending on the light you have, it may look red but not be anything to worry about... I just had an egg that I THOUGHT had a bloodring in it but it wasn't very clear so i went ahead and kept it in there.. It also had a broken air cell.. But, on day 20, it HATCHED! My theory, if you aren't absolutely positive it's dead, keep it in there!! What's a few more days? Sending hatching vibes to you and your class!

Goddess