Spring Break hatching ..... We Hope :)

[MGG]

So last night I candled my eggs while I was turning them that’s a lot of candling lol

It was most exciting & invigorating to see the embryo development & spider like veins & such all over! I gots babies!!

I did find about three that have differences:
> One egg has a nice spider vein system & big red outline of the baby but off to the side at the edge of the vein system there is a “dot”, like someone took a pen & marked the outer area. - Ideas? I’m not sure I can take a pic but I will try later.
> One eggs has a dark area, like it would be the embryo, but I cannot see anything. - Ideas?
> One egg has a large thick red line, almost looks like the start of a baby but not in the place I’d expect nor the “fetal” position the rest have & it seems a bit “out of place”. - Ideas?
> All eggs are in very different stages of development, I guess this means I will have a few days of hatching?

Other than that, they all have nice vein systems, are clear, & developing embryos. I was surprised to see what all you can see candling an egg & how very different in size this development area can be! I have a small egg where I’d think this area would be small in ratio but it seems to be almost the entire egg! That’s a small space for a chick lol

I cannot wait to candle them again & with my kids! Tips on things to watch out for? I know some of the bigger ones like rings & non-clear areas, broken air sacks & such but anything you’ve experienced?

Thanks so much!

Ok. Starting with question one. (1) The dot your seeing is the eye. The eye looks like a huge black dot in there for the first week. (2) are there veins in that egg? It not, it may be a quitter. Just keep it and watch. I like to put question marks in pencil on any questionable eggs, then I can track them. (3) that might be a blood ring. That would mean the embryo has died. It could be from the high temps. Blood rings vary in looks. Some are very obvious and some are not. (4) you probably have hot and cold spots. Is your thermometer calibrated? Move it around in there and see what the temps are. I highly reccomend the Brinsea Spot Check. You can move your eggs around in there so they all get the same temp.

 

[MGG]

I do believe the humidity is supposed to be at least 28%, I mean this is what the lady who sold me the eggs said she kept hers at, but like everything, there’s a lot of variation by people on this. Some say anything more that 60% is for ducks & a chick might drown in their egg, others say that’s a wife’s tale & humidity can be 70%

I find myself constantly checking the BYC app lol! I’m sure I saw someone say this place was evil that way lol

I’m excited for spring break for chicks & getting my older kids for the majority of it! It will be a family hatching affair

I hope the rain does not interfere to much with your coop or chicks. We ourselves have a lot to do with ours before the chicks have to go outside - we inherited two coops with the acreage we are renting, however, they did nothing to clean or maintain them when they stopped having their chickens. It looks like a few years & a lot of chickens have passed through them lol. My partner is adamant he will solely clean them hopefully we’ve time as I feel some of the chicks are further along than others & we may have some early hatchers...... I’m not very good at waiting lol

Try to get your humidity 35-40 percent. It varies, but that is generally where it should be. You can most in there with warm water a few times a day. Humidity in the 20s are too low IMO. I have bad hatch rates when it's that low. Can you just buy an incubator? You will save money as you will get better hatch rates, and save on electricity bills. Are your eggs on wood chips? The lamp is probably cooking them as chips retain heat.

 

[MGG]

I know this is way early for me but I like to be prepared ..... what is “lockdown”?

this is what I know:

3 days prior to hatching day
stop turning eggs
increase humidity ️

that’s it lol that’s what I know

You are mostly right on all of that. Your humidity needs to be at least 60 percent. You should do it 4 days prior, especially since some are further progressed. There have been studied on turning and stopping turning after the first week has no detrimental effect on the hatch rate.

 

[MGG]

aart posted some good links too. I will be following and have hatched over 150 birds, so I should be able to answer most of your questions. Good luck!

 

[Arenas Chickens]

Mmm an eye? All my research did not make me think of that! It just seems to small & too far away from the ‘cluster’ in the middle of the veins. Does that mean it will hatch way earlier than two weeks from now?

The dark one I cannot see anything. It seems to be the most robust egg I have & assume its due to the thickness of the shell. I will be candling tonight again so my kids can see & I’ll try noting more about it.

My partner asked me the same question about getting an incubator... I feel so .... let down to have nickel & dime this experience if I do so I am also not sure I can afford one right now but I m seriously thinking about it.

yes, They are setup on their bedding I have not noticed the bedding being hot or anything , I never took into account this being another heat absorbing medium, I only thought it would help shelter them from cold spots , guess it’s a good thing I was graced with an extra dozen eggs, at least then I may get 6 birds

 

[MGG]

Mmm an eye? All my research did not make me think of that! It just seems to small & too far away from the ‘cluster’ in the middle of the veins. Does that mean it will hatch way earlier than two weeks from now?

The dark one I cannot see anything. It seems to be the most robust egg I have & assume its due to the thickness of the shell. I will be candling tonight again so my kids can see & I’ll try noting more about it.

My partner asked me the same question about getting an incubator... I feel so .... let down to have nickel & dime this experience if I do so I am also not sure I can afford one right now but I m seriously thinking about it.

yes, They are setup on their bedding I have not noticed the bedding being hot or anything , I never took into account this being another heat absorbing medium, I only thought it would help shelter them from cold spots , guess it’s a good thing I was graced with an extra dozen eggs, at least then I may get 6 birds

Yeah, eyes are usually pretty far and don't look attached really. It's weird. It probably won't hatch early, it just depends on how the embryo is laying wgen you candle them. They all have eyes, lol. The dark one probably has a lot of vascularization going on, making it dark. It probably is very healthy. I highly reccomend the MagicFly Janoel 12. It's what I have and mine is very reliable. It's very cheap as far as incubators go and you can get it on amazon Prime. I'm really unsure about the bedding, I never tried that. Can you get a cookie sheet or some thing and lay paper towels on top of that for now? That might be better. Aw, I hope you get more than that! I am praying for you and your babies! Fingers crossed!

 

[Arenas Chickens]

Yeah, eyes are usually pretty far and don't look attached really. It's weird. It probably won't hatch early, it just depends on how the embryo is laying wgen you candle them. They all have eyes, lol. The dark one probably has a lot of vascularization going on, making it dark. It probably is very healthy. I highly reccomend the MagicFly Janoel 12. It's what I have and mine is very reliable. It's very cheap as far as incubators go and you can get it on amazon Prime. I'm really unsure about the bedding, I never tried that. Can you get a cookie sheet or some thing and lay paper towels on top of that for now? That might be better. Aw, I hope you get more than that! I am praying for you and your babies! Fingers crossed!

Awww thanks! There seems to be a lot of good, clean, & clear development going on so hopeful that carries over

I was actually thinking of transferíng them onto shelf lining, that grippy stuff I hate lol, as I saw a suggestion in one of the incubation posts forwarded to me as an aid for the hatchlings, But seems to me that it could work in the interm as well.

 

[MGG]

Awww thanks! There seems to be a lot of good, clean, & clear development going on so hopeful that carries over

I was actually thinking of transferíng them onto shelf lining, that grippy stuff I hate lol, as I saw a suggestion in one of the incubation posts forwarded to me as an aid for the hatchlings, But seems to me that it could work in the interm as well.

Oh, yeah I love the shelf liner for eggs! If you have some definitely do that. It would be even better if you could put some shelf liner pn a cookie sheet and put the eggs on that. How many times a day are you turning the eggs?

 

[Arenas Chickens]

Oh, yeah I love the shelf liner for eggs! If you have some definitely do that. It would be even better if you could put some shelf liner pn a cookie sheet and put the eggs on that. How many times a day are you turning the eggs?

I am on an 8 hour schedule. About 3 times a day. However I was thinking of making it 4 on a 6 hour schedule but I have a 16 month old & don’t know if that’s realistic lol

 

[MGG]

I am on an 8 hour schedule. About 3 times a day. However I was thinking of making it 4 on a 6 hour schedule but I have a 16 month old & don’t know if that’s realistic lol

Haha! Yeah, toddlers are hard! Stick with the 3, 4 times a day makes the embryos lay on the same side for several nights in a row, making them adhere to the shell and can cause early deaths. I just wanted to make sure you weren't doing even numbers. It doesn't have to be on a schedule either, you could turn them 5 times a day (if you are around most of the day) and do it in the morning when you wake up, and then a couple hours later, and then once at lunch, once around 3 or 4 and once before bed. Just throwing that out there. Your schedule currently sounds good though