Starting a hatch the week of Oct 29th! Who's with me?

[coops gone crazy]

Temp about 99.8 and humidity around 48%. It regulates itself well so far.

 

[SymanSaysFarms]

Today is Day 5! I couldn't resist any longer and decided to candle the eggs last night. Since it was our first time doing this, we had NO clue what to look for... or what we were looking at once we got in there. But we took notes on each egg. My conclusions are, of the 26 eggs we have, it looks like 21+ are developing. I say this because 21 plus or minus 1 or 2 have dark blobs developing towards the top of each egg. For comparison, I took one of our non-fertile eggs out of the fridge and candled it to get an idea of what a known infertile/undeveloped egg looked like under the candle..... like I said, we're newbies at this candling and hatching stuff lol. I'm pretty sure all the Speckled Sussex (3) did not start developing at all as they are completely clear when candled (no dark "blob" like the others had). But, I've kept them in the bator just in case they're late bloomers.

Does this sound about right for being on Day 4? What have been your experiences with candling at this stage? Am I seeing what I should?

 

[coops gone crazy]

Day 4 is pretty early so I definitely wouldn't count anything out yet. By day 7 you usually get a pretty good idea but day 10 is better. Early I look for veins & the air cell to be developing normally at the end. The middle days are the most fun to candle because you can usually see them moving in there. Still think its cool every time I see one move. Hard to be patient isn't it?

 

[coops gone crazy]

Oh yeah- we went into lockdown last night. Should hopefully have 2 chickies Wednesday night late or so.

 

[SymanSaysFarms]

It's SO hard to be patient!!!! Glad I just looked a bit early and things could still become visible later.

I'm so excited for you! If day 1-4 has been like this, I can't imagine how lockdown will be! Good luck to you and post progress and pics

 

[coops gone crazy]

Just got home from work. We have 1 pip and I can hear some little peeps and see the egg wobble once in a while!

 

[SymanSaysFarms]

WOW coops!!!! That's awesome!

 

[coops gone crazy]

Second one just pipped. A tiny bit of progress on the first. It still peeps here and there. Wasn't expecting them until late tonight anyway so telling myself just be patient.

 

[coops gone crazy]

One out. Come on second one.

 

[SymanSaysFarms]

OMG!!!!! How beautiful! How many more eggs do you have left in the bator? How's the second pipped egg? Oh, I'm so excited for you!

I'll honestly be on cloud9 if just one of my eggs hatches at this point. I'm so afraid I'll screw something up. I'm constantly worried about my humidity being too high.... it's been hovering around 54% but can dip to 42% or go up to 60% (not for long on either extreme... it's really only during filling the water troughs but I still worry that'll be enough to not hatch any of these babies out. I candled yesterday (Day 7) and all my marans and ameracaunas are larger dark blobs but I can't see through the shell enough to see veins or much of anything else. I hear this is common for dark colored eggs but I have so many of them, it makes learning anything near impossible. Of the lighter colored eggs (lavendar orpingtons/speckled sussex) I can definitely see veins. Now I worry about the blood ring though. Ugh, so stressful! None of the SS have developed which is kinda upsetting but I understand it happens (plus, I only got 3) I would think I would see something at this point. I'll keep them in the bator till Day 10 and candle again. If I don't see any progress, I'll be taking all quitters/non developers out and possibly doing an eggtopsy to try to learn what happened.

Crossing my fingers for you!!

Please, as anyone else reads this, feel free to chime in with any advice you may have. Thanks!