My first attempt at hatching

[DonyaQuick]

The incubator arrived early and is in good working order as far as I can tell from a brief test. It will both be a backup in the event of a staggered hatch and an option for me to do another round should I end up with zero Chungus chicks this time.

Oh, and another nice use for that incubator: I can take pictures while candling. Sort of. I can do it while the egg is on its side safely. So, how do these eggs look for day 11?

Brown egg #1. I think this is one of the ones I thought I could see a vein in before. I now doubt whether I actually saw that.

Brown egg #2...I feel like this one is not looking good...very glowy, but the dark blob used to be round and is wider now. I don't know if that means anything.

Brown egg #3

(there's a 4th brown egg but it's too far into the Dimple abyss to get easily tonight)

And for comparison, this is a nearly white speckled egg - one of the two Dingus eggs I know for sure has a little critter in it because I can see it wiggling around in there. There is less pigment this one so it obviously candles better.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I think I've only got 4 eggs still going if any of the others were ever going in the first place. The 4 that look good are the Buddy and Dingus eggs. Even the Buddy eggs at this point are VERY dark at the end when candled, similar to the last photo in my previous post. Neither the Buddy nor Dingus eggs have the glowy look of the others, and I don't think I can attribute all that to the shell color differences. I will not be removing any eggs since there are no stinkers but I'm not optimistic.

Also I now have a stray cat that has returned to make a nuisance of itself by scaring my chickens and now a raccoon approaching the side of the house where I have Dimple set up. I have no AC so I have to keep windows open a lot. I have been keeping her little broody nest box within a hardware clothed enclosure although the panels are only held together with zip ties, not screws. It's 2nd story; if the darned thing somehow climbs up the siding to the window and tears through the screen, I feel like it should cause enough crashing around when it comes in to wake me up and/or set off the dog. I've seen zero evidence of racoons in the cleared part of my property up til now, which I largely attributed to the fact that neighbors shoot them. First a bald eagle camping my clearing and a cat and a coon. Frustrating timing.

 

[junior67]

The incubator arrived early and is in good working order as far as I can tell from a brief test. It will both be a backup in the event of a staggered hatch and an option for me to do another round should I end up with zero Chungus chicks this time.

Oh, and another nice use for that incubator: I can take pictures while candling. Sort of. I can do it while the egg is on its side safely. So, how do these eggs look for day 11?

Brown egg #1. I think this is one of the ones I thought I could see a vein in before. I now doubt whether I actually saw that.
View attachment 3180309

Brown egg #2...I feel like this one is not looking good...very glowy, but the dark blob used to be round and is wider now. I don't know if that means anything.
View attachment 3180308

Brown egg #3
View attachment 3180307

(there's a 4th brown egg but it's too far into the Dimple abyss to get easily tonight)

And for comparison, this is a nearly white speckled egg - one of the two Dingus eggs I know for sure has a little critter in it because I can see it wiggling around in there. There is less pigment this one so it obviously candles better.
View attachment 3180306

it is hard to tell with those pictures. The light needs to shine through the air cell to really be able to see. What I do is put the egg on and hold it with one hand and use my other hand to take the picture. I kind of wrap my hand around the back of the egg and bottom on the sides so I know it is secure while I take my pic.

 

[chickfused]

I do my first candle at 14 days with broodies or hard to candle eggs. They won't go splody before then, and at 14 days, you just see dark if a baby's in there. It's very obvious. IMHO, your first 3 eggs are non viable, though the first one looks like it might have started and quit.

 

[DonyaQuick]

it is hard to tell with those pictures. The light needs to shine through the air cell to really be able to see. What I do is put the egg on and hold it with one hand and use my other hand to take the picture. I kind of wrap my hand around the back of the egg and bottom on the sides so I know it is secure while I take my pic.

I couldn't manage that while feeling like I had a good hold on the egg, but my hands are pretty small.

I do my first candle at 14 days with broodies or hard to candle eggs. They won't go splody before then, and at 14 days, you just see dark if a baby's in there. It's very obvious. IMHO, your first 3 eggs are non viable, though the first one looks like it might have started and quit.

Yeah I don't think there is anything in my four brown eggs the 4th one looks no different from the ones I took pics of. My other four lighter eggs practically look solid black and are also all showing movement. Nothing remotely similar from the brown ones; they're still glowy. Well, at least I have the incubator now to try another set of eggs from just the brown egg hen once I can get her back on good terms with my rooster. She's doing a thing right now where she runs over and dramatically squats in front of me and then looks over her shoulder at him to make sure he saw what she did, so I am not too surprised at fertility problems with her eggs lol.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Since Dimple has a weird thing about not pooping in her enclosure and I don't want to add shavings over the tarp until after the hatch, I gather I need to stop giving her daily outings on day 19 - is that right? Today is day 16, so two more daily outings for her I guess.

The reason I haven't added shavings by the way is I didn't want her over-filling the box or trying to make another nest elsewhere and move the eggs (she'd done this in the coop before I brought her in the house). After the hatch I won't have to worry about that anymore.

 

[junior67]

Since Dimple has a weird thing about not pooping in her enclosure and I don't want to add shavings over the tarp until after the hatch, I gather I need to stop giving her daily outings on day 19 - is that right? Today is day 16, so two more daily outings for her I guess.

The reason I haven't added shavings by the way is I didn't want her over-filling the box or trying to make another nest elsewhere and move the eggs (she'd done this in the coop before I brought her in the house). After the hatch I won't have to worry about that anymore.

Not sure if it is right but my 2 that each hatched an egg got off the nest and went out even after an external pip. The chicks hatched fine

 

[chickfused]

Mama hen knows what to do. Just leave her be and don't change anything.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Lockdown starts today...and I'm pretty sure Dimple is talking to her eggs.

I removed the brown eggs and put them in the incubator. I didn't just toss them because, to my surprise, two in particular look darker and the dark mass has largely stopped moving when the egg is shifted. I'm wondering if maybe they ended up not being warm enough the first week; maybe it was a mistake for me to do 8 with little Dimple and I should have stuck to 6. Either way, the light eggs look ready to go and I'd like Dimple to get back to eating normally as quickly as possible rather than letting her stay broody waiting on iffy eggs given there will be some chicks to take care of soon.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I knew thing were going to happen early! Day 20 and...

It looks almost white?? Wasn't expecting that from buff x barred but I also don't know much of chick colors.