Setting 8/12 any buddies

[10 point]

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OO no im sorry we will be waiting for you to return how far along were the eggs you might still be able to save them?

they were 3 or 4 days in when she took them out but it was when I was away at camp. so when I got back I got that wonderful surprise.

 

[chickee]

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Less humidity is better than more by far, although low humidity can cause curled toes in your chicks and shrink wrap them at hatching. I use a turkey baster with fish tank airline tubing attached and run the tubing through the vent hole in the top of the incubator to add about 2 tablespoons of water at a time to the center well and check the humidity again in an hour. Repeat until your humidity is where you want it. This way you don't have to keep opening your incubator and letting out the humidity. It is normal for your humidity to go way up when you start your eggs. By the next morning it will have gone down. I think everyone who is new to hatching panics when they see the humidity skyrocket like that. One or two days of high or low humidity rarely affects your hatch. It is a time thing. The eggs need to loose, I believe, 25% of their moisture over the 18 days of incubation.
Picture of my turkey baster with tubing attached and a wooden skewer taped to it to keep it rigid for directing it into the water well. I was setting up for lockdown in this picture.

 

[ladycutter]

Thank you, that makes sense to see it as well.

Hoping for more little fluffy butts like these soon!

I have another question about the eggs. I did candle them, gently, today so I would have a base line going forward. 2 eggs concerned me and I would like to know what you think about them. First egg has a large dark area in the middle of it, my guess was that it was being sat on by a hen and started to develop then was pulled out (thinking it was fresh) and probably died in transit or could it still be alive?

Second egg has 3 to 4 dark spots inside, also looked to me like it had been developing and then was pulled for shipping...could that be? If so, are these dangerous to leave in there? Should I leave them in there until day 14 candle to see if they are growing? If they were still alive for some reason even after shipping wouldn't they hatch much earlier than the other eggs? None of them smell badly and I know to watch for that and pull any that do..

Sorry for so many questions but I am trying to learn. Most of the rest of the eggs have a yolk area you can see and that will move as you rotate the egg (gently) and an air sac but I could only see veining on the white egg which is the lone Serama egg (was sent for someone else but I don't know what they will do with just 1 if it hatches, all of the other chicks are Sussex so will be huge compared to the little Serama).

Some of the eggs look very clear still as if they were store bought eggs, unfertilized?

I am hoping that things will be much "clearer" if I candle again at 7 - 10 days (or should I wait completely until 14 days now?) as there would be obvious development by then or if still clear then I would toss them, correct?

Thank you again for all of your WONDERFUL help...I added a couple of Tbs of water and waited then a couple more and now the humidity is up to almost 40% so I will add just a touch more and it should be there. I think I have airline tubing already I can use and I know I have the long wood skewers so I will get that set up and use it so I know I am ready for lockdown day when it comes.

Anne

 

[Shayna]

Update for me: Today is day 3 in the incubator the 24 silkie eggs... I am plugging in my turner today. I decided to try letting them sit in the incubator a couple days without it on due to rough shipping and detached air cells, since this had been successful for others. Aside from that, no progress. It seems like the remaining days are going to go very slow. I'm just not patient enough for this! My humidity is running at about 30-35% and occassionally adding a syringe of water if it drops to keep it stable. (basically going with the dry incubation method) I plan to candle at day 7, 14, and right before lockdown. I'm very curious to see what day 7 will bring!

I did candle the eggs before I put them in, and here are some pictures:
http://s1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd388/shaynablizard/Hatching Silkies/
They don't show much yet....

 

[Contrastphoto]

Wow thanks for posting the photos. I am pretty new at this. Can you actually see the detached air cell in the eggs when candling? If so which photo number can you see it in?
Busy day today, last day of summer vacation for my son. He is going into third grade. He has a science fair to be apart of this year. I am hoping he wants to do something with the chickens, but not sure he will want to make it that easy on me. I am getting a few more Swedish Flower Hen eggs today in the mail. I had 8 eggs in my last hatch and 5 candled clear on the 12 day and only two hatched. So the man had mercy on me and is sending me a 6 more eggs to try. The original 8 eggs got lost in the mail for 3 days in the heat of July. So it looks like I will be doing a staggered hatch. I am a little nervous about that. Any advice for a staggered hatch out there?


I left the incubator turner off for the first few day last time and this time as well. I hope it helps!


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[Shayna]

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Well we're both completely new at this!

This is my first time hatching eggs. I am a little obsessive about making sure I have everything right, so I've been doing tons of reading to figure out what I think is most likely to work for me. You can't see the detached air cell in the pictures, however when I was candling them, when I turned them to the side, there is an air bubble in them that I could see roll from the top of the egg to the side. From what I've read, that bubble should be attached to the big end of the egg. Not all of mine have that, but several did. The seller did a great job packaging, but they were in the mail for 4 days and the box was quite battered when they arrived. I can't wait until Day 7 is here so I can get a good idea of how many are developing.
You may like this link - I use this as a reference when candling my eggs: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261876
Not sure what you're using to incubate, but I'm using an LG that I had a fan put in, so I'm using this page as my primary incubating reference: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=14596-incubation-cheat-sheet&PHPSESSID=6a9ef75252d048761e502795e39964f4
Keep in mind this is someone talking from ZERO experience, but from what I've read doing a staggered hatch is very, very difficult because you have to raise the humidity so high at lockdown for the final 3 days of the older eggs, but that high humidity will drown the younger eggs. I think unless you have a certain kind of cabinet incubator, a second incubator or broody hen is usually necessary. Hopefully someone else can give you some tips on how to make that work. Good luck!

I look forward to continuing to read about everyone else's progress as we move toward hatching!!

 

[JohnCT]

I candled last night when it was time to turn them, figure the incubator was open anyway, and not really knowing what I am looking at, I had no clear eggs compared to one I looked at from the fridge, at 3 days there was a dark blob in each egg(kind of like the 52 hour picture in the candling link), I couldn't see any veining, I don't think my flashlight is strong enough.

 

[Shayna]

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Hmmm, maybe you'll be able to see more on day 7. That's when it starts looking very clear from what I've seen in pictures. I don't want to handle mine too much, so I'm waiting until then. If you're still having trouble, maybe try a new flashlight. The one I used for my first candling was just a cheap little LED flashlight that I bought for $1 at the dollar store. I think it works pretty well. My family thinks I'm crazy because I told them I'm going to my office to candle my eggs, and then I walk into the darkest closet and shut the door. (yep, that's now my candling office!) LOL But it worked really well in such a dark place!

 

[JohnCT]

I didn't really expect much, I was happy to just see something in side compared to what I saw in the egg from the fridge, at least something is happening in there.

Where is the fast forward? Are they chickens yet?

 

[DixieChickie]

I started my second incubation, I put in 12 eggs from my red sex link hens.... looks like my easter egger roo caught a couple of the hens. I have 5 confirmed with veining and lil heartbeat...and a couple others that are possible fertile eggs.