New to incubating eggs and already a nervous wreck lol

[uptail]

Dont forget to get a light to candle your eggs! Then you can tell if they are fertilized as soon as Day 3. Every few days you can look at the eggs and watch them developing. My DH bought me a small, very bright Coleman flashlight at Walmart and it works great.

Hondo58 gave me this link of how eggs are supposed to look threw each day. It really helped me alot!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation


Oh, and its going to be the longest 3 weeks of your life

Thank you so much for that reference thread. I have no idea how to candle an egg. The information and pictures at least give me some kind of idea what I might be seeing.

So just a very bright flashlight of some sort will do the trick?

 

[AinaWGSD]

Yep, a simple flashlight, the higher the lumens the better, will do the trick nicely. Specific egg candlers are nice, and some of them are way better than a low-mid lumens flashlight. But a high lumens flashlight and a little practice on just how to hold your hand and turn the egg is all you really need if you don't want to spend the money on a candler. The LED kind are the best because they don't generate heat the way a traditional bulb does.

Just one thought after looking at your pictures, if you do any cooking at home at all you might want to reconsider the incubator location. I couldn't help but notice that your incubators seem to be right next to the stove, and cooking will generate a lot of heat sporadically which will cause temperature fluctuations. If 80%+ of your cooking is done in the microwave, it might not be a big deal. But I know I'd never be able to keep my incubator temperatures stabilized if my incubator was anywhere in my kitchen, let alone right next to the stove!

Good luck! It's so nerve wracking the first time. From what I read, it's pretty nerve wracking every time (I've only got one hatch under my belt so far), but the first time has got to be the worst as you second guess everything with no personal experience to draw from.

 

[uptail]

Thank you for the heads up! I am not 100% sure where the final location will be for the incubators, but if they end up there on the counter, they will be safe. My kitchen stove is pretty much just for looks anyways. LOL