The Anticipation is Too Much!

[Kaffyne]

Aaaand in! By the end of today, it'll be day 3. Four days until I can candle, and two weeks until estimated hatch time. Arrrghhhhhh, waiting!

 

[wildone]

you know, now that you have us all excited, you better keep this thread up dated. i agree, the anticipation is way to much.

 

[Kaffyne]

Ahaha, oh I plan to! This is where I get to release the valve on that anticipation.

 

[wildone]

sooooo.... how's it going? have you started candling yet? hm, might be a bit to early yet. I think that it is awesome that you are incubating eggs. before I got mine, I chickened out (why is it chickens and not some other form of poultry? chickens are quite chill birds.) and bought live chicks. i love that they are older, but i miss when they where little balls that will placidly sit in your hand. word of caution, (sort of?) they are SO small. at the five day mark they barely are the size of a walnut (in the shell).

 

[wildone]

 

[Kaffyne]

sooooo.... how's it going? have you started candling yet? hm, might be a bit to early yet. I think that it is awesome that you are incubating eggs. before I got mine, I chickened out (why is it chickens and not some other form of poultry? chickens are quite chill birds.) and bought live chicks. i love that they are older, but i miss when they where little balls that will placidly sit in your hand. word of caution, (sort of?) they are SO small. at the five day mark they barely are the size of a walnut (in the shell).

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! It's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster!!!
So, full confession. I initially just put one egg in, because I had incredible luck the first time I incubated (popped in a test egg, hatched a chick...but I was at work and couldn't supervise it, and by the time I came home, it had drowned itself in the extra dish I put in to raise humidity for lockdown :c) so I figured the same would happen. SUCH HUBRIS!

I couldn't wait until Sunday to candle, so using the candling guide, I candled my single egg on the 8th (day 4).
And it looked nothing like the guide's day 3/4. I was still optimistic, thinking "hey, this is a homemade incubator, and maybe I just don't have optimum temp." Last hatch happened on day 19-20, and my theory was that it took longer because I was keeping the temps maybe on the 98-100 range in order to avoid a temp spike, plus I was going into the environment to turn the eggs and refill the water reservoir. I'm doing the same this time round.
So I give it another day, to see if there's any difference. Next day (the 9th) rolls around...No changes I can see. I can't decide whether or not my incubator's not working or if the egg was not fertile. So I add in one more egg. And I felt so...deflated. Like I'd 'wasted' a week, and now I had to restart from day zero. And that's IF both the egg was fertile and my incubator (still) works.
I sleep on it, and wake up on the 10th feeling more and more grim.
"Awh who cares! It's not working! I give up! I'll just toss the rest in too!" I did (and damaged three eggs in the process). So by the end of the 10th, my tally was 1 egg in on the 3rd c), 1 egg on the 9th, 1 good egg, 2 hairline-cracked eggs and 1 egg with a bit of a crater (no perforation in the membrane though) on the 10th. You can tell at this point I'm kind of sulky and defeated.

I then become a less attentive incubator mama, no longer circling it like a hungry shark and constantly watching the humidity and temp gauge, and counting down the hours to turning. I'm still dutiful, making sure the water's filled, turning the eggs when I'm near.
"Futile effort!" I think to myself.

I had coffee at work on the 13th, which was a mistake because I am still awake right now, early morning of the 14th. It's dark, I'm staring glumly at my incubator, wondering if I should get the disappointment over with and candle the remaining eggs, or wait until it's a little further a long.
"It'll be the same as the first egg, regardless if you do it now or the weekend. Might as well."

Candle my first egg (day 10/11) - Still bright with that free-floating yolk. :C
Candle the one set on the 9th (day 4/5) - Wait. Wait, is that a trick of the light? Is that just the speckled shell?? Or am I seeing veins???????? The yolk seems darker and not be moving that much...Nah, it can't be. Okay, let's put it back and check the rest.
Candle the good egg set on the 10th (day 3/4) - See egg one :C I guess not.
Candle the 2 hairline cracked eggs set on the 10th - Same
Candle the dented egg - buoyed by the hope of that one egg, I think I also see veins? I don't have the highest hope for this one, being broken-ish and all, but if it's actually developing and the chick pulls through, let's just say I gave it a headstart on pipping.

I immediately go back and candle that one egg again, and I'm leaning towards the IT'S HAPPENING side. So of course I want it to KEEP HAPPENING, so back in the incubator it goes, which is SO HARD BECAUSE I WANT TO SPEND 15 MINUTES CANDLING IT FOR CERTAINTY.

So. Yeah. I haven't slept at all, but I'm egg-cited again!!

 

[Kaffyne]

Also, I am not a chicken at all, at the moment. I have zero chill, ahaha.

Aww, I hope I have better luck this time and get to hold a live fluffball poopmachine!
(Don't worry, I've since found a better *tall* container to be my second water reservoir for lockdown)

 

[dpenning]

Also, I am not a chicken at all, at the moment. I have zero chill, ahaha.

Aww, I hope I have better luck this time and get to hold a live fluffball poopmachine!
(Don't worry, I've since found a better *tall* container to be my second water reservoir for lockdown)

It is the surface area of the water that raises the humidity. Your taller container may still have the same surface area, not sure. I use a paper towel dipped into the reservoir to wick humidity for lockdown. no drowning and a fast bump. Just at thought. Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Kaffyne]

It is the surface area of the water that raises the humidity. Your taller container may still have the same surface area, not sure. I use a paper towel dipped into the reservoir to wick humidity for lockdown. no drowning and a fast bump. Just at thought. Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for the head's up dpenning! It does have less surface area than the main reservoir, but I think the opening is wide enough to raise it to lockdown levels. I tested it briefly pre-incubating (I had no eggs, but wanted to put SOMETHING in there). Plus, as a jar, I was thinking it would hold/support the paper towel better if I needed a boost. I tried the paper towel last time in my main reservoir, but it would just flop over and into itself, which...well, didn't do much for humidity, haha

Thanks for the well wishes, ya'll are all in this with me now!!

 

[wildone]

i am so happy for you!!!!....? okey you lost me about halfway through. so it sounds like you have at least one that might hatch? it will still be just as adorable if/when it hatches.

good luck