Narrowing it down...

[thndrdancr]

Cyn, I am trying to be extra vigilant. Can they hurt the other eggs, just being in with them? As long as they dont touch or explode, will they be ok? Or can they contaminate just being in there? I do know a few are viable, I can see the embryo growing, and none smell bad now that I got rid of the one.

I think I might candle them all (hers) real well in a couple days and get rid of the ones that dont look like they are doing anything.

 

[speckledhen]

It's possible that the bacteria from them could contaminate the others, especially if they are cracked and/or seeping; it's most likely to happen if they explode all over the others in there, which seems like a distinct possibility from what you've been going through.

 

[Chelly]

When is hatch day? I'm now following along - you're such an enabler Jill!

 

[thndrdancr]

Glad to help you out, Chelly!

Hatch day should start Tuesday of next week or so, unless they start early. So far, most of the ones I have looked at look good, except for Velvets, alas, I do think those are infertile (still giving them a shot tho), but we got some lite brahma/blue orp crosses that look good so far in the egg.

Really is hard to tell with those brown eggs for a newbie, so am not givin up on the questionable eggs til I know for certain, and I can see telltale stuff of what I am supposed to be lookin for in most!

At least with my friends eggs, they are white, so I think I can candle them all in a couple days (since hers are a wee bit behind) and really tell if which ones need to be tossed...and also, thank goodness I am blessed with a really good sniffer. The one had just started to smell, but when I broke it open of course...bleh! None of the rest smell at this point. They must have went thru shipping equivalent of heII. They did route them thru the wrong post office, first of all, went from Texas to Des Moines, Iowa, sat for a day there doing nothing, then on to here. Crazy postal service! And she even got called for pick up from HER post office. lol
Maybe its a good thing my man delivered ours, Cyn!

They sent them early Mon mornin, just like yours, and it took til Friday to get here, and I got yours Wednesday morn from further away. Go figure!

 

[speckledhen]

Sounds great-can't wait to see little Suede/Miranda babies! I did a butt-fluff trim on Miss Velvet and trimmed a bit more today. Golly, that girl has cornered the market on fluff! I think that may have been part of the problem. By now, if you aren't seeing anything at all but a shadow of the yolk in Velvet's, I'm sure they are infertile, but since they have good tough shells, they'll be fine to leave in there unless you just want to take them out. Velvet's did have some weird shell swirlies that I thought might confuse the issue when candling, but they seemed to be hard shells and not porous.

 

[thndrdancr]

lol Cyn

I have to laugh, cuz I was reading the post on looking at the chickens vent, and I cant even GET to my girls vent! All there IS is fluff. I have tried to check for lice and mites, etc, and I swear I cant even get down to her skin. I should post pics of MY chickens vent...ummm, its nicely covered, thank you, she says!

Oh yea, know what you mean by the weird swirly things. Those would be great to color for Easter, huh?

 

[thndrdancr]

Ok, narrowed it down some more on the friends eggs. Found another, it didnt smell but just was totally clear, so tossed it. Cracked it first, just to make sure, and no development. The rest I have looked at it so far, anyway, have development. Didnt want to candle all, since its cool this eve and didnt want them to cool too much.
One has a hairline crack, but is developing so will have to keep an eye on it.

On yours, Cyn, I can see some, but hard to tell. One of Lexie's, I am pretty sure the air cell is on the other end you had marked!

But I only candled three, all I can see basically are the air cells, and those look good, two were Miranda's and one was Lexie's. I couldnt feel any move, but did see the big dark blob in there. I think.

So, down to 23! and the countdown continues.

I know it sounds like I am candling every night, but I am really not, only doin three or four at a time.

 

[FarmGirlNE]

Finally gettin around to reading some posts here... lol Jill, that sucks that you've had so many of mine turn out bad... but that will be less that you'll have to worry about getting rid of... the girl I got them from had told me I should have them that Wednesday, she did send them that monday, and I tracked them... the post office was screwing around. I'd try to track them and it wouldn't show anything at all. Or it showed that they were in des moines for over a whole day... when it should have gone up through Lincoln to Greenwood, and NOT to Des Moines... geez...

I put the guinea eggs under a hen... but of course I have no idea what's going on with them... and have no way of finding out. I almost hate the idea of them hatching actually, with how the ex neglected all of them anyway, all the birds have mites... I also had to leave my new incubator there when I left... grr... I couldn't put it in my car, my car was totally packed full... but I wouldn't be able to use it for quite awhile anyway... but ticks me off that I just wasted the money on it... there's no way I could get him to ship it to me, I don't even want to talk to him to ask him to. Oh well... nothing I can do about it now.....

Good luck with the hatch... one more week, right? I can't wait to see pics!

 

[thndrdancr]

Hi Lisa,
Yes, too bad about your incubator.

You do have SOME that look good, tho, that I candled tonite! I can really see them, since the eggs are so light shelled. I wrote good on at least 4 of them.

The ones that were bad so far, I think they must have gotten shook around like crazy in shipping, because there was absolutely no development whatsoever, just slushy yolk all mixed up, like someone took them and shook the crap out of them. It was easy to see they were not good now, compared to the developing ones.

Its a wonder any are viable, but sometimes they can be tuff lil critters.

I cant wait either.

 

[barg]

I keep looking for an opening to add something to this thread but I really dont have anything to say because the only eggs I've ever hatched were under my bugies and I really didnt have to do anything but wait for the mother to leave the nest so I could look at the babies after they hatched.
So I guess all I can offer is, a really long run on sentance and to let you know once again that, I'm rooting for ya

Still watching and waiting

Steve