Setting eggs on Wednesday June 29

[LilyD]

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I am going to set them in lock down as late in the evening as I can on the 17th which would be day 18 and 1/2 for the first 29 eggs and day 17 and 1/2 for the second 15. that way they are both as close as possible to day 18 but I can set them at the same time. I am also going to set them in egg cartons because I heard that laying them down is bad because the temp is different that low in the incubator if you use a turner rather than having them up in an egg carton. I am going to try and divide the three sets of eggs so I can tell them apart when they are born too but we'll see how well that will work. I have cardboard frames that I will be placing in between the three egg sets so they can't get together lol. I should have thought ahead and gotten delawares and light brahmas for two separate hatchings rather than one lol.

 

[LilyD]

Okay today is day 6 for 29 of my eggs and day 5 for 15 of them so I decided to candle them and see what was cooking.

1. Out of 14 shipped Delaware eggs three are questionable ( I couldn't see veining but there was no definite problem yet with the egg) I left them in but if they are not viable that leaves 11 with clear veining on day 6.

2. Out of 12 barn mix eggs that were not shipped 2 are questionable (can't see the veining or a black dot in the egg yet) but 10 definitely progressing.

3. Out of 15 eggs on day 5 all 15 seem to be developing but two have star shaped cracks in the eggs that I didn't notice on shipping. All are developing including the two broken ones. I will try to cover the cracks to save the eggs since they are growing well.

How is everyone else doing with their eggs?

 

[Time-Out]

I was thinking of candling mine in threes, so I don't leave the incubator open too long. I'll do the first three tonight and take pics as it's my first time candling. I'm not sure my torch is powerful enough, though... might have to rig something up quick!

 

[LilyD]

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I use a mag light and it's only about 110 lumens. I made a cover for the top that is a little smaller than the size of the egg to concentrate the light over the egg and I wait until it is dark and place the light with it's end in my lap between my legs to hold it steady and I open the lid for 1/2 a second to take out an egg and place it over the top of the light. At 6 days which is where I am pretty much you can see veining and maybe a dark spot where the baby is developing (if they cooperate, not all of mine did lol) but as long as they aren't totally clear I leave them in at this stage. At my day 14 candling I will take out any that aren't pretty much almost all the way dark since the chick should pretty much fill the egg at that stage. So if I can see more than 90% of the egg then I know it stopped developing. The only exception would be if I see movement in the egg even if it isn't as developed because that would let me know that it might actually hatch.

I take each egg out one at a time and re-close the incubator so it never really drops too far for temp or humidity. It was definitely harder for 41 than it was last time for 12 but I am glad I did them all because I totally missed the fact that two of my Brahma eggs had star shaped cracks on them so they would have ended up dying because of moisture loss if I hadn't noticed and fixed them. I am hoping they continue to develop now that their cracks are fixed.

All in all it took about maybe 10 minutes to do all 41 because of the time I had the two out to fix them and my humidity got down to 32 and temp to 98.9. Once I stopped playing with them we went right back up to 99.7 no problem without playing with the temp knob so I don't think it was too damaging. There does have to be an easier way to candle though because taking each egg out one at a time is definitely dangerous since I could drop them or injure them while they are out. I am a total klutz lol.

Good luck with your candling.

 

[Time-Out]

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Lol I know what you mean. I hold my breath every time I pick an egg up.

The trouble with my pla-sticky incubator, is that the lid isn't a good fit, so I need two hands to get it on and off. On is harder because I need to 'stretch' it over the lip ever so gently so as to not disturb the eggs. It'd be far quicker/easier for me to just leave it off while I candle. Thankfully, the temp climbs back up really quickly in it, so the eggs should be fine.

What would you do if you had an egg with large pores? I believe I may have one or two (seen from the outside).

 

[LilyD]

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Lol I know what you mean. I hold my breath every time I pick an egg up.

The trouble with my pla-sticky incubator, is that the lid isn't a good fit, so I need two hands to get it on and off. On is harder because I need to 'stretch' it over the lip ever so gently so as to not disturb the eggs. It'd be far quicker/easier for me to just leave it off while I candle. Thankfully, the temp climbs back up really quickly in it, so the eggs should be fine.

What would you do if you had an egg with large pores? I believe I may have one or two (seen from the outside).

I have heard that those aren't good to incubate so I would keep an eye on them and do frequent sniff tests to make sure they aren't going bad. You should be able to smell it without lifting the lid if an egg is going rotten though.

 

[Time-Out]

I always inhale deeply when opening the lid. I have this vision of one exploding... I've prepped my OH, so he's on the task if I catch so much of a wiff I don't like lol. He's none too happy with his new role, but that's his problem

 

[Time-Out]

Egg 1:



Egg 2:



Egg 3:


What do you think?
Does the airsack not look HUGE on 1 & 3?
2 looks like it might have a blood ring, doesn't it?

It was really hard to tell anything, so I've ordered the Brinsea thingamybob. (Don't tell the OH - these eggs are costing us a fortune lol) I tried rigging up a 60W lamp, but it got so hot within seconds, I was worried I'd be hard boiling them.

Do you have pics of your candling?

 

[LilyD]

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I didn't take pictures of this candling but at the top of the incubator forum they have a candling from day 1 through day 21 which I found very helpful. My candling was pretty unimpressive. Most of the eggs I could see veining but no baby yet other than two that were cracked where I could see the babies. The second egg really doesn't look like the blood ring that I had. It looked like someone had taken a red marker and drawn a line on the inside of the egg around the middle that didn't move at all, like it was stuck to the egg shell. The others are starting to look dark so I would say they are growing. Not sure about the first one it looks kind of clear but I always leave them in unless they smell until my day 14 or 15 candling when I should see the baby in there because then I will know for sure.

 

[Time-Out]

You're a star, thank you! You've reassured me. I'm so stressed lol.

I've seen that link. It's saved in my bookmarks, but the images are so much clearer than mine lol.

I'll edit tonight's photos so they're not quite so big. Do you mind if I post them again to ask for your opinion?