Setting eggs on 3/7. Anyone else?

[MEMama3]

We lost power some time last night. Temp in the bator was 95 when I got up. I'm not sure how long it was like that. Got it back up now. Hope everyone is okay. :-(

 

[wolfiemum]

Cool coincidence! I have never done any of this before and this may be a strange sequence of events but this is my story and I am sticking to it.

My hubby and I wanted to try to raise chicks, mostly for eggs. So I began to research. I decided I wanted a rooster as well as hens and found out that the local agricultural stores won't sell roos. In the process of looking for someone who would I discovered "heritage" breeds. (Breeds of chickens...who knew?) Anyway got my heart set on the wonderfully coloured eggs and found a lady who had "mixed heritage breeds" chickens for sale, not sexed (so I may have some roosters). I asked to buy 10 and she said she would give me a deal on 25. We agreed to 25 and ended up with all 31 that she had left from that hatch. Plus 12 eggs!

We tried in vain to buy an incubator, and the. You tubed until we were satisfied with a homemade design. I am really happy with its consistency in terms of temperature but am having trouble maintaining more than 35 to 45% humidity.

I just happened to set the eggs on Friday, March 7 in the evening. The hope is that we can have grand kids sleep over and see them hatch on the Saturday.

I have been turning them by hand around the clock every 4 to 6 hours. I tried to candle them today but I am not sure what I am looking at. 10 of them seem to have the veining and a dark spot (the eye?). But the other two are different. One has a circle about the size of a yolk and the other a dark mass on one side of the egg. Neither seem to have veins or a dark spot. Are they viable?

 

[wolfiemum]

I have 12 White Chantecler, 7 Buff Chantecler, 12 Silver Laced Wyandotte, 16 Gold Laced Wyandotte. I'm a first timer remember lol...so I'm trying to be patient. I did try candling 6 eggs yesterday. Just random ones, and from what I could tell 5 of them are looking promising and 1 looks empty.

On that note, I had only ordered 36 eggs, but because the lady was unsure of the fertility (we were having -50C weather), she sent extras. I'm super excited and HATE waiting for things. We are also waiting for puppies which are due by the 14th. So my anxiety level is quite high these days. HA!

I might try candling more in a couple days and see how many more look clear. 47 eggs is a lot to candle for a newbie. But boy was it exciting to see the veins!!

What kind of puppies?

 

[MEMama3]

Cool coincidence! I have never done any of this before and this may be a strange sequence of events but this is my story and I am sticking to it.

My hubby and I wanted to try to raise chicks, mostly for eggs. So I began to research. I decided I wanted a rooster as well as hens and found out that the local agricultural stores won't sell roos. In the process of looking for someone who would I discovered "heritage" breeds. (Breeds of chickens...who knew?) Anyway got my heart set on the wonderfully coloured eggs and found a lady who had "mixed heritage breeds" chickens for sale, not sexed (so I may have some roosters). I asked to buy 10 and she said she would give me a deal on 25. We agreed to 25 and ended up with all 31 that she had left from that hatch. Plus 12 eggs!

We tried in vain to buy an incubator, and the. You tubed until we were satisfied with a homemade design. I am really happy with its consistency in terms of temperature but am having trouble maintaining more than 35 to 45% humidity.

I just happened to set the eggs on Friday, March 7 in the evening. The hope is that we can have grand kids sleep over and see them hatch on the Saturday.

I have been turning them by hand around the clock every 4 to 6 hours. I tried to candle them today but I am not sure what I am looking at. 10 of them seem to have the veining and a dark spot (the eye?). But the other two are different. One has a circle about the size of a yolk and the other a dark mass on one side of the egg. Neither seem to have veins or a dark spot. Are they viable?

not to self promote, but I wrote a blog post on candling yesterday. It might help you with figuring out what you're looking for: http://104homestead.weebly.com/1/post/2014/03/part-2-from-chick-to-egg.html

 

[wolfiemum]

not to self promote, but I wrote a blog post on candling yesterday. It might help you with figuring out what you're looking for: http://104homestead.weebly.com/1/post/2014/03/part-2-from-chick-to-egg.html

Ok, good info. According to your blog I have 10 good viable eggs, one with an early quitter and one with bacteria. Should I wait a few days and candle again or would it be better to remove the right away?

 

[slavedriver01]

Mini schnauzers! She was supposed to get spayed and when we brought her in they said by the way....she's pregnant. So it wasn't planned but they are so fun to watch grow up. Today is day 63 for her so they should be coming today!

Candled a few eggs last night again. I think one has a blood ring. We are gonna wait a couple days and look again because I read a post yesterday about a lady opening one that she thought had a blood ring and it ended up it wasn't. Soooo I'm off to read the blog now and see what more I can learn!

 

[MEMama3]

Ok, good info. According to your blog I have 10 good viable eggs, one with an early quitter and one with bacteria. Should I wait a few days and candle again or would it be better to remove the right away?

I am of the school of thought to err on the side of caution before tossing. I'll be candling the five questionable ones again tomorrow night. If I don't note any differences then I'll toss. I also like to crack one at a time and see if there is signs of life.

 

[Chick CJ]

These are pics of my candler in case anyone is interested. I was having trouble viewing my marans eggs and went in search of a "home remedy"! It is a "spotlight" type flashlight and a furry black furniture pad that has elastic around the edges so it fits right over the light and stays on. I cut a hole in the middle of the pad and Voila, a candler is born! It worked perfect, I could see into my darkest egg!

 

[slavedriver01]

So I candled all 47 last night. 2 had blood rings and 5 I'm unsure of. One looks like its developing but rather slowly, the others I can't see air sacs and very very faint veins. So maybe they've just stopped altogether. I've marked them so I will check again in a couple days.

I opened the 2 that had blood rings and one had an eye and that was it, the other had a faint blood ring but was basically like a white frothy water that poured out. Didnt even look like it had a yolk....kinda like a scrambled egg look. Any idea what that means?

All in all, I'm impressed that so far 40 of them are still going strong. I had bets with dh that only 6 would survive. Hey...I'm a skeptic and don't like to count my chicks before they are hatched! Hahaha literally!

 

[SA Farm]

Yeah, that's why I tend to buy chicks... No, of course I didn't buy 21 chicks on the weekend...that would be crazy!

I'm still planning to candle on Monday. I added 6 duck eggs last night, so I'll be moving the chicken eggs to my still-air incubator for lockdown. I find it's better for hatching anyway as the forced air, I find, dries out too quickly.