SEVERAL questions about incubating eggs,..

[JaeG]

I know, right! I couldn't imagine not candling and missing out on all that wonder! Sorry about the smelly ones.

 

[Wickedchicken6]

OMG,....OMG,....Finally I see what you guys are talking about,..I see the veins and blood spot and I am so giddy that I am going crazy,...I have 20 eggs but only 4 are showing being fertile,..eggs 4-20 to 5-1 was not fertile,...now 5-11 to 5-16 are,...one of them but something went wrong with one of them, never saw a blob shaped like that, all on one side almost looks like a crime seen,..the other turned eggs turned green inside and I could smell them going bad,..what is with this last one,..I will try to send pics,...

Pretty amazing, right? And pretty addictive. Sorry you had some eggs that weren't happening. The more you incubate...the more comfortable you get with it and the more experience you have at being able to tell what's going on.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Handling eggs doesn't hurt anything if you wash your hands first and don't rub off the bloom. That's the key, keep bacteria away from the eggs.

 

[bernie131]

So mostly I need to make sure that it does not get too hot,...all my thermometers say something different,..so if I start to see anything floating around that would mean the embroyo is breaking down?

 

[Wickedchicken6]

Yes...and no...lol. I just lost the majority of the first hatch of this year due to temps being too cool, and I had calibrated my thermometers. I'm not really certain what happened but the setting changed from where I had it last fall and I should have questioned that more. Hopefully, this second hatch goes better.(And I've been incubating since 2015!)

Heat will usually kill more definitively. That's been my experience. They died at once. If eggs are exposed to too cool temps for a prolonged amount of time...then you start experiencing die off. That's how it's worked for me so far.

I can't seem to link the information on how to calibrate your thermometers. That's very important. It all depends what the floaty thing looks like. If the egg is fairly progressed, say day 10 or so and the embryo dies, you usually see the blood veins atrophy and release blood which usually collects in a ring around the embryo. Usually good clear veins mean the embryo is alive. You'll also notice the other eggs progress and fill with darkness where one that has died will not progress.

This shows the veins perfectly. The chick is very developed, in fact the two lumps you see...that's the chick. I have a video of it moving. The egg is almost full of chick. At this point, if you have 10 eggs and 2 are noticeably more clear and not full like the rest...those eggs have died and if they haven't...they won't make it.
This egg doesn't show much as far as veins, yet there is one visible healthy vein. The dark spot in the center is the embryo and at this point you should be able to see it move in there. This egg is alive and a keeper.

This embryo is dead. It's just a mass floating in liquid. There are no visible veins and if you rotate the egg...the dark mass swishes as one hard lump.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Yes...and no...lol. I just lost the majority of the first hatch of this year due to temps being too cool, and I had calibrated my thermometers. I'm not really certain what happened but the setting changed from where I had it last fall and I should have questioned that more. Hopefully, this second hatch goes better.(And I've been incubating since 2015!)

Heat will usually kill more definitively. That's been my experience. They died at once. If eggs are exposed to too cool temps for a prolonged amount of time...then you start experiencing die off. That's how it's worked for me so far.

I can't seem to link the information on how to calibrate your thermometers. That's very important. It all depends what the floaty thing looks like. If the egg is fairly progressed, say day 10 or so and the embryo dies, you usually see the blood veins atrophy and release blood which usually collects in a ring around the embryo. Usually good clear veins mean the embryo is alive. You'll also notice the other eggs progress and fill with darkness where one that has died will not progress.

View attachment 782586 This shows the veins perfectly. The chick is very developed, in fact the two lumps you see...that's the chick. I have a video of it moving. The egg is almost full of chick. At this point, if you have 10 eggs and 2 are noticeably more clear and not full like the rest...those eggs have died and if they haven't...they won't make it.
View attachment 782959 This egg doesn't show much as far as veins, yet there is one visible healthy vein. The dark spot in the center is the embryo and at this point you should be able to see it move in there. This egg is alive and a keeper.

View attachment 783106 This embryo is dead. It's just a mass floating in liquid. There are no visible veins and if you rotate the egg...the dark mass swishes as one hard lump.

My very first hatch, back in 2014 I had a borrowed bator, went and bought a Springfield thermometer/hygrometer, never thought I needed to check the accuracy. Come lockdown time I had 17 little guys moving around in there. They looked behind but I was hoping it was just my inexperience in what I was seeing. Day 23 I finally had a pip. Day 24 he hatched and I had a second pip. The second one hatched day 25 and died. Nothing else hatched. I was told to check my thermometer. I did. It was almost 6 degrees off! On top of that I was running humidity high 50%+ because that's what the book said. Between the low temps and high humidity, it was a miracle even one hatched and lived.

After that I bought two new thermometers, checked them, and researched humidity and how to monitor air cells. I have never had a poor hatch since. I run 85-100% hatch rates. I always have 2 therms at least, and run low humidity the first 17 days and check air cells.

Knowing your thermometers are accurate and understanding humidity are the key points in my opinion (besides having a steady incubator) to having successful hatches. There are, of course, other factors, but those are top of the list.

 

[bernie131]

Just curiosity questions,..how many watts are the light bulbs and what do you do the candle the eggs,..does it have to be LED,..which is the best?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Just curiosity questions,..how many watts are the light bulbs and what do you do the candle the eggs,..does it have to be LED,..which is the best?

I use an LED flashlight to candle.

 

[wynn4578]

I just use my phone but you can use just about any light source as long as it cups the egg a bit so you can see in without blinding yourself.