New to incubation and hatching

[GA2J]

Hi my name is Ghisnene, I'm from South Africa and very excited to be part of this forum. My interest in chicken incubation started when the Spotted Thick Knee bird pair at our church abandoned an egg and I decided to see if I can hatch. I build my own incubator, but it was a very basic one. Just a lamp with few holes for ventilations. I had no thermometer, hygrometer, thermostat ... nothing. I tried to keep the temperature right by opening and closing the lid of the box. But sadly one night I forgot the lid open and the chick died - it was about 6 days before hatching. I then decided to try chicken eggs - 5 in total but all died quite early on. Then I decided to put more effort in my incubator like putting in a fan, thermometer, thermostat and hygrometer. I bought 14 eggs from a local hatcher and is on day 7 today and happy to report that 10 of them are definitely growing beautifully!

I do have a question about 1 though. It had a little crack from the beginning which I covered with candle wax, but when I candled the eggs for the 1st time 3 days ago I saw that the air cell was on the side of the pointy side of the egg (exactly where the crack is). While the other chicks are developing very close to the air cell, this one is developing a bit further from the cell. The egg is developing beautifully and the chick is very active, but I'm a bit worried. I don't know how the handle this one. Any tips?

At this stage I incubate all the eggs in egg cartons with ventilations holes at the bottom and sides and they are at a 45 degree angle with the pointy sides down. In this egg's case it means that the air cell is at the bottom. I've attached a foto of the egg. Sorry for the poor quality but I've marked the air cell with pencil. It is taken from the side of the egg - hope you can see the air cell on the side of the pointy part and the chick more towards the blunt part of the egg. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

 

[redsoxs]

Greetings, Ghisnene, and

! Great to have you aboard! I am a hatching novice but the folks in the link below really know their stuff. You might want to post there. Best wishes and happy hatching!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/5/incubating-hatching-eggs

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under GA2J

Welcome!

Sorry that I am not able to answer your question either but redsoxs has given you a good place to post.

Good luck with the hatch!

I hope you enjoy BYC. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun. Unlike non chicken loving friends, family and colleagues, BYC’ers never tire of stories or pictures that feature our feathered and non feathered friends

 

[N F C]

I haven't hatched ay eggs, but you'll find lots of members that do at the link redsoxs gave you.

Good luck with your hatch!

 

[GA2J]

Thank you so much

 

[drumstick diva]

I've never hatched either. But Redsoxs has given you a great link. I would think the chick will do okay. Sending good hatching vibes your way