Refrigerated eggs...**Update pic (graphic) page 5**

[LauraSBale]

I put in 7 refrig eggs, in my last batch, and they had to be up 6 days olds, the temp was at regular refrig temp, i put them in just to see what would happen,
5 hatched out, the 2 didn't ever grow.

their 2 weeks old now and growing good, so you just never know.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I got impatient and tried to candle the eggs last night. I could hardly see in them!!! The shells are very hard to see through. I guess I'll wait until day 7 and try again.

 

[mandelyn]

This thread made me go grab one of my dad's just-bought organic eggs out of the fridge just to see. LOL... just one though, so I have no hopes... but it would be hilarious if it hatches! I don't know if organic operations keep roosters around, but I think so... I compared my hen's egg to the organic ones, and both had bullseyes.... I originally wanted to compare yolk colors but noticed that little tell-tale sign too!

(my yolk was darker than the organic's!! yay!)

Good luck on the next candling!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Ok, I tried to candle the eggs again. Today is what? Day 4 I think? The Americana eggs are hard to candle! I can only make out the dark spot where the yolk is. It just looks like a solid dark mass. Does that sound right? I don't even know how i'll be able to see veins, because it's so hard to see through the shell. Can anyone give any advice?

 

[txredneckmedic]

i need advice too...im having the same problem

 

[Happy Chooks]

I hatched welsummers and they were VERY difficult to see into. I couldn't see anything really until Day 9 when I saw movement. Some of the others I didn't see movement until Day 12.

So don't toss them until you are ABSOLUTELY sure. By Day 14, it was pretty obvious, because the eggs were mostly dark except for the air sac due to the chick filling up the egg.

 

[Wynette]

I would highly recommend not candling so much. Each time you handle the eggs you take a chance that they cool too much, that bacteria is introduced (which can be absorbed through the shell into the egg and kill the embryo), that as you turn them, the chalaza flips over itself, which could cause it to pinch (it's like the umbilical cord) and thus kill the embryo....there are so many things that can happen to the egg, much less each time you open the bator, you're letting precious warmth and humidity out. I'm sorry if I sound like a wet blanket, and I know it drives you bonkers....but, you're really not going to see much of anything until at least day 5, and that's if the egg's shell isn't too thick and it's developing on schedule. I guess I'm just sayin' - know the risks.

There are tons of websites out there with eggs being candled on video and pics of them - if you really feel the need to candle. Check out some sites before you do so, so you know what you're looking for before you candle. Also, remember to not turn the egg over too many times as you candle, and to do it very slowly. Okay, I'm stepping down off my soap box now...sorry if I sound terrifying!!!

And...BEST of luck to ALL of you out there hatching!

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
+1

The less you handle them, the better. With a darker egg, and a bad light, you might not even be able to see anything till day 12!



On the topic of refrigerated eggs, their viability is a function of time and temperature. An egg can be held at 0F for 15 minutes, 32F for an hour, 40F for a week and still hatch, just not as well as it would have if stored at best conditions. In a refrigerator set and designed to store eggs for hatching, such as a research setting, you will still be able to get about half to hatch up to a month later. In a home refrigerator, a week would be pushing the limits. Either way, the longer they are stored at sub optimal temperature, the decreased hatchability and increased frequency of birth defects. So in short, just do it and all you have to lose is a few eggs, and more likely than not, the eggs will be lost as embryos with birth defects that you would be able to see if you knew what you were looking for under a dissection scope. There is a whole 300 some page book on chicken development and effects of various conditions on eggs prior to hatch and the results. Just don't remember the name of the book.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Yesterday started lockdown on these two eggs! It's only day 13 for the other 17 eggs in the bator. Hopefully a few days of no turning won't hurt them.

I have no idea if the 2 fridge eggs are even viable. Green eggs are so hard to candle!

 

[MIKE555444]

GOOD LUCK!