Setting Feb 16, want to join in>Hatch-Along

[BarefootMom]

I candled last night and ALL 48 eggs show veining!! I am so excited! I have never had all eggs show development before. I know I shouldn't count on all of them to hatch, but very excited at this point!

 

[hokankai]

Woot! Congrats

 

[MommaSampson]

I candled tonight as well. 26/30. I ha one that looked like it had quit early on. Like day or two ago. First picture here; just a dark spot no real veining.


This egg it just had this red vein around the egg but nothing else so I figured it was a quitter too.






I left them in for a few more days just to make sure. I'll check the 4 I'm unsure on in about 3 days and if no change then I'll eggtopsy and chuck them.

 

[hokankai]

That looks like a blood ring in the second set of pics, so yeah a quitter. Those are good numbers though!

 

[frankensusan]

Yes the watery eggs were shipped. I put 7 of my own birds eggs in and they seem to be dong very well. Only 6 of the 15 shipped eggs look promising now

Hi Jengro! I have sloshy eggs too! I definitely see an embryo in one even though it's sloshy. They were shipped across the US and looks like USPS dropped the box, two were completely smashed even though the packaging looked pretty decent. So I'm excited to have any signs of life... I do worry what will happen as sloshy develops, but other than being super gentle I don't think there's a whole lot I can do. I have other sloshy ones that didn't develop at all but are still in the incubator because I'm afraid to cull before I'm 100% sure. It will be a low % hatch but I knew that was a risk ordering from so far away. I just really wanted Large Cochins again.

Here's to learning what will happen to the watery, sloshy eggs. I am doing my best to go along for the ride, but sometimes I do get a little too upset or too hopeful. It's quite the rollercoaster having these little lives to watch. My record keeping took 7 days to devolve into scratched notes on scraps of paper and paper towels!

I will have to spend some serious time next week maybe day 10? really noting what is going on in each egg by number so I can decide what to cull.

Best wishes to everyone's eggs!

Susan

 

[BarefootMom]

I cannot wait until my eggs hatch!

I had forgotten how much I loved having baby chicks until I started seeing pics of all these chicks being hatched!! Got my brooder all cleaned up and set up today. Can't wait to use my new chick brooder bottle caps that I got from The Chicken Fountain... (if you haven't seen these you gotta check out their Facebook page!! - and no I am not affiliated with them at all, just think they are cool...) We stopped by Cackle yesterday but they were already closed for the day - they close at 3 on Saturdays... I am tempted to drive over there tomorrow just to get a couple of chicks... lol (I am only about 30 miles from there)

I have already gotten my feed and am ready.

 

[Jmurph]

I cannot wait until my eggs hatch!

I had forgotten how much I loved having baby chicks until I started seeing pics of all these chicks being hatched!! Got my brooder all cleaned up and set up today. Can't wait to use my new chick brooder bottle caps that I got from The Chicken Fountain... (if you haven't seen these you gotta check out their Facebook page!! - and no I am not affiliated with them at all, just think they are cool...) We stopped by Cackle yesterday but they were already closed for the day - they close at 3 on Saturdays... I am tempted to drive over there tomorrow just to get a couple of chicks... lol (I am only about 30 miles from there)

I have already gotten my feed and am ready.

I was originally on the thread that set on 2/14...but it seems some have moved here. This is my first time incubating. You ALREADY have everything set up? Okay, now I have to get going!!!

I own three 4 year old hens and I thought I would add to the flock this year. I started with 6 hens, but racoons got 2 and a hawk got one. Soooooo...I ordered some eggs. Note to self: don't order eggs in the evening after a rough day AND after consuming a few glasses of wine.....OH...then the generous folks sent extra. Thanks a million!

I started with 11 Lavender Orpingtons (one cracked in shipping....ordered 8). 6 marans (ordered 4), 6 blue cochins, 6 sizzles....THEN I forgot about the 6 Polish that I ordered, so I waited an extra day to put them in the incubator. I candled on Saturday evening and tossed 4. 2 had obvious blood rings and 2 were clear. Now I am not definite about some others. One has a floating air sac...should I keep it? I see veining. The Marans are difficult to candle and I am not sure about them. I've read a bunch of stuff on how to improve candling with these dark eggs but I don't want to toss something that I don't know is viable. Also, I think at 50, even with my reading glasses, I am not so good at definitively seeing what is going on.

SOOOO....If I have this right, day 28 should be March 8th (Friday). I should go into "lockdown" on Tuesday? I am super excited if I even get a few chickens out of this experience.

I will probably need A LOT of hand holding and mentoring next week! please be patient!

 

[hokankai]

I was originally on the thread that set on 2/14...but it seems some have moved here. This is my first time incubating. You ALREADY have everything set up? Okay, now I have to get going!!!

I own three 4 year old hens and I thought I would add to the flock this year. I started with 6 hens, but racoons got 2 and a hawk got one. Soooooo...I ordered some eggs. Note to self: don't order eggs in the evening after a rough day AND after consuming a few glasses of wine.....OH...then the generous folks sent extra. Thanks a million!

I started with 11 Lavender Orpingtons (one cracked in shipping....ordered 8). 6 marans (ordered 4), 6 blue cochins, 6 sizzles....THEN I forgot about the 6 Polish that I ordered, so I waited an extra day to put them in the incubator. I candled on Saturday evening and tossed 4. 2 had obvious blood rings and 2 were clear. Now I am not definite about some others. One has a floating air sac...should I keep it? I see veining. The Marans are difficult to candle and I am not sure about them. I've read a bunch of stuff on how to improve candling with these dark eggs but I don't want to toss something that I don't know is viable. Also, I think at 50, even with my reading glasses, I am not so good at definitively seeing what is going on.

SOOOO....If I have this right, day 28 should be March 8th (Friday). I should go into "lockdown" on Tuesday? I am super excited if I even get a few chickens out of this experience.

I will probably need A LOT of hand holding and mentoring next week! please be patient!

Woah do you mean Day 21? Chickens at at 21 days . But yeah if you set on the 15th you're due on the 8th like me!

Don't toss the ones with wiggly aircells, as shipping causes that often. Just keep an eye on them, but they should do ok if they've made it to this point.

 

[Jmurph]

Yes, I meant day 21...lol. I forgot to mention I have 6 pekin duck eggs in another incubator, which are all doing well. (28 days for them).

Can one expect to get chicks a few days early? a day early? Certainly not anymore early than that, ......right?

 

[hokankai]

Well I decided to candle the eggs on day 10 today and everyone looks great! I was worried about the last bantam BR because I candled and it looked like the veins were washed out and the embryo wasn't moving. I stared at it for a minute and it jerked awake! I was so happy to see it dancing so I quickly put it back.

Here's what I saw in the others. I felt like I was peeking in on a private party, look at all that movement in there!

Some bantams have been known to hatch on day 19!