The Little Incubator on the Prairie -- an incubation diary

[PrairieChickens]

The temperature has been spot-on, and I solved the humidity problem--with the cord to the egg turner being where it's at, the lid wasn't closing properly. Humidity is back at stable levels now that I know I have to align the cord before I close the lid.

 

[philyaw539]

Thats great! Hope your hatch goes well!

 

[PrairieChickens]

I can't sleep, so I may as well post an entry.

January 30, 2014

I seem to have resolved the humidity problem. Because of the way the incubator is designed, it is difficult to orient it in a way that I can still access the water troughs and digital display. As a result, the cord to the egg turner pulls a bit, and doesn't always line up properly when I try to close the lid. That small gap was apparently enough to cause the unexpected loss in humidity, but with a little care, it was easy to work with.

I couldn't resist candling my eggs again. I think I'm addicted. Several of the eggs are showing good development and even movement!


Hold still! I'm using a long exposure! (Day 6)

When my husband came home from work in the wee hours of the morning, I woke up to show him the developing babies. Not only did they candle very well, but the babies were very active with lots of motion. It was a very magical experience for us.

Just two more weeks until the due date!

 

[PrairieChickens]

January 31, 2014

Last night I candled all of the eggs for the first time, and was surprised to discover that of my 20 eggs, only 4 have failed to show any signs of development at all. I had expected fewer eggs to actually be viable, considering the circumstances, so it was a pleasant surprise. I don't intend to count my chickens before they hatch, and only time will tell how many of these eggs will actually develop into chicks, but so far it is looking good.

It has become difficult to photograph the eggs because the embryos are so active. By the time the exposure is complete, they have moved around so much that they are little more than a shadowy blur. I suppose it's good that they're lively, but golly, it's hard to share my enthusiasm with the world when they won't cooperate!

Only two weeks now until babies!

 

[PrairieChickens]

February 3, 2014

I am kicking myself royally right now. At some point, I stuck an egg in the "naughty spot" on my egg turner, ultimately resulting in the turner becoming jammed and consequently not doing its job. I don't know how long it was like this and I don't know why I would have set an egg there, but that's what happened. I've identified one egg with a stuck yolk, but the rest still seem to be free. After some reading on the subject, I've found that it is possible for the yolk to come un-stuck after an occurrence like this, so I have hopes that the chick may yet be saved. Well, this is why I started with my own eggs--as bad as I feel about messing up the turner on a batch of freebie eggs, I would have felt a bajillion times worse if it had been some expensive marans or ameraucana eggs I'd bungled up.

In addition to the stuck egg, I have one quitter so far, but the rest of the eggs seem to be developing well. My EE eggs for the most part remain infuriatingly impossible to candle, so I guess I'll just have to wait until the big day to see what happens. The embryos in the developed eggs are a challenge to photograph because of their motion, but I did get a startlingly clear shot of the banty egg, perhaps because the little fella has less room to hide from the camera.

The banty egg


Embryo hiding, but alive.


Another hiding embryo.


One of the cooperative EE eggs.


One of the EE eggs that I just can't seem to shine a light through.


Looks like a quitter...


Had to tilt this egg with the pointy end up to get a photo of the development.


Coming along nicely!


Hello there, little embryo shadow!


Some of the eggs that looked fine upon initial candling look very porous when photographed with a long exposure.


Maybe if I hold it, the embryo will show itself? Yes? No?


The porous nature of this egg when photographed surprised me, but I was pleased to see the development inside.

 

[fightingrooster]

ive had some eggs in the incubator and they are doing great! ive have all different aged eggs in the incubator so they will hatch out at different dates. my first 2 are supposed to hatch out tonight, I hope everything goes well. the best of luck to you and your eggs!!!

 

[PrairieChickens]

Good luck! That's very exciting!

I'm trying to avoid a staggered hatch because I don't want to have to turn the eggs by hand while the older eggs are in lock-down, and I can't leave the egg turner in there without putting the hatching chicks at risk. (They can be crushed by the moving parts of the egg turner if it's left in after lockdown.) Perhaps in the future, I'll feel comfortable enough to attempt a staggered hatch or an ongoing incubation like I've seen others do.

 

[PrairieChickens]

February 5, 2014

Only about a week to go, and the babies are looking good. I'm becoming quite the anxious mama, ready for them to emerge. I invested in a proper candling light today, but it gets so hot, I can't use it for the long exposures necessary to take photos. It works better for the purpose of actually seeing into the eggs than my LED flashlight does, which has allowed me to confirm my darkest eggs are developing well, but for photos I continue to use my flashlight.

I woke up this morning to find the humidity had plummeted to 13%. I'm not concerned, because I know it was good before I went to bed, so the eggs weren't sitting in a dry incubator long. I filled the reservoir and now the humidity is back up to where it should be. The egg with a stuck chick seems to have resolved itself, but I won't know for sure until the actual hatch day. I finally pitched the four duds and single quitter, and now have 15 lively little eggs in my incubator. If all goes well from here on out, I could end up with 15 new chicks just in time for Valentine's day.







So much more detail would be visible if it just didn't take so long for my camera to get a shot. I wish I could get video of the wiggling babies, but again... there just isn't enough light.

 

[backyardflock1]

What is the "naught spot" on the turner? so I don't put an egg there and mess it up, lol

 

[PrairieChickens]

There is usually a spot right next to the motor that if you were to put an egg there, it wouldn't have room to turn. If you look at a photo of a fully loaded egg turner, that one spot is always empty, and that's why.

The silly thing is I KNEW I wasn't supposed to put on there, and still did it.