Setting eggs today 5-3-12...anyone with me?

[Aschenfire]

I am about 12 hours into my hatch and I'm already anxious and excited to see these little guys grow and develop. And of course, Dracon, the more the merrier!
I love this hovabator I bought, btw! The temp has stayed a steady 100 degrees since I got it up there with no fluctuations. I am going to wait till day 7 to candle anything I think, but waiting is going to be torture

 

[alyssa13]

Hi everyone. New here but I saw this fourm and this is a few day's before I got my fertilized egg. It is only one egg and I have no chickens. I don't have an incubator so I put it in a little box, with cloth under it, and a lamp set to about *99.5 degrese. I am on day 3. I have a large crack on it, so i put some candle wax on it. Is wax better or nail polish? This is my first attempt to raise a chicken egg. Any helpful tips?
~Alyssa~

 

[JDchicks]

hmmmm... I can't see anything yet. My eggs are a medium/dark brown. I can see a shadow in the shell but too dark to see any small veins. Guess I will have to wait a little bit longer before candling again.

 

[lxlzbaca]

Yippee!!!! A hatching buddy!!!

I just had two broodies hatch. One hatched three last Wednesday and another had hers late last night/early this morning, she has 5. They are from the same neighbor, all mutts. I think it will be fun to compare those chicks as they grow with her flock to see who the parents could be!

Did you candle your eggs before you gave them to your hen? I candled the 23 eggs she gave me last night and only 18 were suitable. I am super excited for the end of the month!

I didn't candle them before setting her under them. It's been 5 days so far and I may candle them tonight just to see if we see anything. Have you candled yours?

 

[piper2009]

Hi everyone. New here but I saw this fourm and this is a few day's before I got my fertilized egg. It is only one egg and I have no chickens. I don't have an incubator so I put it in a little box, with cloth under it, and a lamp set to about *99.5 degrese. I am on day 3. I have a large crack on it, so i put some candle wax on it. Is wax better or nail polish? This is my first attempt to raise a chicken egg. Any helpful tips?
~Alyssa~

You really need an incubator but if you want to try it in the box go for it!! I would get some humidity in there though. If you don't the chick will stick to the shell and probably die. You need about 65 to 70% humidity, if you get a humidity gauge it will tell you exactly how much humidity you have. You will probably want to put it in an inclosed box ( cooler?? ) of some sort so you can maintain the humidity. As far as the crack goes candle wax is probably your best bet because of all the chemicals in nail polish but I am not an expert in any way. I am not sure how good of a chance it has because of the crack but try it and see and let us know what happens!!

Also are you turning it? You need to turn it AT LEAST 3 times a day, so the chick will not stick.

Where are you located? Maybe some one near you has some extra chicks you can have if yours doesn't hatch.

Good luck hatching your egg! And please let us know how it goes!

Hope this helps,
~Piper

 

[wordgirl]

Day 4 update:

Candled a few just now - pretty sure I saw some veins!

Is it normal for the yolks to be able to move pretty freely within the egg? In some of my eggs the yolk moves pretty easily around when I turn it, in others, it's slower. Two days ago, there was one yolk that hardly moved at all, but now (I'm not positive it's the same one, but I think it might be) it rolls all over the place. I didn't think I was very rough with it, but I did move it around when I was candling it - did I hurt it?

Also misted my eggs for the first time tonight (duck eggs).

 

[alyssa13]

Yeah I'm turning it when I get up, at 12:00, and when I go to sleep. I looked at it this morning and it is my 4th day. I haven't seen anything

I'll keep it until day 5 so I can see if there is anything in the little thing. Also I'm located in Deltona Florida. If it really comes down to it, I'll go out and buy either a fertilized egg for sure, OR i'll get a baby chick out of the egg. I really want to see a chick come out. That is something to be proud of.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

For my eggs today is day 7. I am going to candle them all tonight. I hope we have a good hatch rate, I have mentioned before that she attempted a hatch in her incubator and she ended up with only 5 of 34 eggs hatching. Two of the five have died after hatching. So her group of eggs in my incubator should help her replenish her flock.

@ Alyssa13, I agree with piper2009, an incubator would be the best option. And how big is the crack? Can you post a picture for us? Have you candled it to see if there is any growth?

 

[alyssa13]

@ WyoChickenMamma, I can't find and can't afford an incubator. I'll take a picture of it but it is pretty big. I put candle wax all on the crack. Also I have candled it and all I can see are like little black dot's floating around in the egg. If it isn't fertilized, i'll see if the egg I get next is. If not, then i'll go find someone with a fertilized egg, or i'll just buy a baby chick if it comes down to it. I'll post a picture of it today.

 

[WyoChickenMamma]

@ WyoChickenMamma, I can't find and can't afford an incubator. I'll take a picture of it but it is pretty big. I put candle wax all on the crack. Also I have candled it and all I can see are like little black dot's floating around in the egg. If it isn't fertilized, i'll see if the egg I get next is. If not, then i'll go find someone with a fertilized egg, or i'll just buy a baby chick if it comes down to it. I'll post a picture of it today.

Okay, I understand. I have never seen more than one black spot in the eggs I have candled, so not sure what that means. Do you see any veining? It would look like a spider, with legs stretching out? Also, if you do end up buying a chick, buy at least 2, chickens are very social and need a "flock" even if it is just two. One will be quite lonely.