Unknown date of eggs…

[DuckyMama4]

Hello,
New member here I’m hoping this is the correct place to post this… apologies if it should be somewhere else. This will be long as I attempt to include as much info as possible right from the start.

I am hoping someone with more knowledge could assist on the age of these babies or at least help with when to “lockdown”. We have never hatched anything before so this experience is very new to us! We were planning to incubate for school (homeschool) so luckily we had ordered an incubator but we were barely into our research and planning stages when nature played a trick on us.

Long story short we had two of our girls go broody and had three nests between the two of them… one was basically ignored so we pulled the eggs inside and candled them. Some seemed to be infertile and some were clearly early deaths. Nine showed development and heartbeat so we put them in the incubator and have been researching like crazy in hopes of doing right by these little ones.

-Date we noticed broody girls- May 21st (unsure of when they actually started)
-Date we put eggs in incubator- May 26th, late morning/early afternoon I believe.

Candling photos are May 26, May 29, and June 2nd.
Air cell photos-
1st- May 26 (almost totally washed out in photo)
2nd- May 30 (second drawn, first easily viewable in photo)
3rd- June 3rd
4th- I forgot to write down the date
Top photo shows untraced air cell on June 9th
Bottom photo shows untraced air cell from about 18 hours ago
- Separate “front view” shows air cell from about 2 hours ago
Side view of air cell from around 18 hours ago.
Photos are all of the same egg.

I was keeping the humidity around 45-50% until about a week ago. The air cells seemed small to me so I removed all water from the incubator. I live in a pretty humid area (MI) so it was only dropping to about 43-50% while empty. Maybe high 30s at night, I would guess it never went below 37%. Temp is fluctuating a bit between 99.5 and 100° (two different thermometers).

We have 9 eggs total. 6 seem to be a bit further along then the other three. Of the 6 that seem to be further along they are mostly dark, maybe 1/4” of “space” between baby and air cell (as of about 18 hours ago). The space is orange/red with veins and movement. Three of them have a small totally clear space in the pointy end (no veins or anything). The other three are only occupying about half the egg and the air cells are smaller then the other six. Unfortunately I have no new candling photos (can grab some though if needed).

Are the first 6 possibly nearing hatching? How do I navigate that with the other 3 durning lock down and hatching?

I’m feeling the first timer anxiety and just trying to get my ducks in a row to be best prepared for these babies.

Thank you in advance for any possible help on this!

 

[DuckyMama4]

Forgot to mention- the six “further along” eggs have been wobbling around for about 4 days now, started just slightly but has been increasing significantly. Still going today.

I was “dating” them from May 21st, when we first seen the girls sitting but that would put us at only 22 days which seems a bit early for hatching. Which is where my hope of someone more knowledgeable maybe being able to help with their “age”.

 

[DuckyMama4]

The air cell has now grown to the middle of the penciled X. I did a quick candle this morning and there is now only small gaps of space here and there under the air cell. The three with the clear area in pointy end still have it. I’ve been doing a lot more reading and I do believe we are on our way to hatch day! If only I had a better of an idea of when to lockdown.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

The last ones look to be around day 25

 

[DuckyMama4]

Thank you! I’m assuming they are still in the drawdown stage. I’ve been seeing shadowing in the air cell for 4-5 days now but it is growing everyday. All still have good movement although the egg wobbling has decreased. I have not taken them out of the incubator but I’m hoping I’ll be able to see an internal pip through the clear sides when I candle that way.

 

[DuckyMama4]

Here is where we are at today. No internal pips from what I can tell. Obvious dip down though! Wow! I don’t believe it shows as well in photos as it does in person. I can see significant shadowing along the bottom edge of air cell and along the sides in most of them. I even seen some slight shadowing in one that was at the front of the air cell (egg was still laying down, untouched in incubator).

One of the eggs that appeared to be behind has caught up very quickly! The air cell is drawing down and I can see a good amount of shadowing at the back of the air cell. The other two eggs are much larger and appear to have just begun drawdown but no shadowing that I can see yet.

 

[Mutchi]

You cab just be ready for a chick to hatch anytime, that means, brooder ready, ect.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Here is where we are at today. No internal pips from what I can tell. Obvious dip down though! Wow! I don’t believe it shows as well in photos as it does in person. I can see significant shadowing along the bottom edge of air cell and along the sides in most of them. I even seen some slight shadowing in one that was at the front of the air cell (egg was still laying down, untouched in incubator).

One of the eggs that appeared to be behind has caught up very quickly! The air cell is drawing down and I can see a good amount of shadowing at the back of the air cell. The other two eggs are much larger and appear to have just begun drawdown but no shadowing that I can see yet.

They look like they should pip sometime in the next day or two

 

[DuckyMama4]

We have an external pip! Never seen an internal pip!
Trying to figure out now if I should flip baby so pip is up? Or leave?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

We have an external pip! Never seen an internal pip!
Trying to figure out now if I should flip baby so pip is up? Or leave?

Yay! You should be fine leaving it be. I've never had a problem with pips more towards the bottom just when they weren't in the air cell.