What should I be seeing at day ten?

[Jo-Anne White]

Its day ten for my chicken eggs in my homemade incubator I candled the eggs this evening & only one of the ten has movement the others only have a dark shadow to one side, is this a bad sign? are they dead!!! this is my first time & I'm really worried should I chuck them or give them more time?

Thank you
Jo

 

[Cynthia12]

Its day ten for my chicken eggs in my homemade incubator I candled the eggs this evening & only one of the ten has movement the others only have a dark shadow to one side, is this a bad sign? are they dead!!! this is my first time & I'm really worried should I chuck them or give them more time?

Thank you
Jo

Dark shadows are good, if you watch a bit and see it move. If not, then they could be quitters. On day 10, you usually see quite a bit of movement though. And, you will see nice plump veins. They will move around sometimes too as the baby moves.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You might look through here for what you should be seeing at Day 10.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/candling-pics-progression-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs

I’d absolutely give them more time. You don’t always see movement. How well you can even see in there depends on your candler and method, how dark it is in the room, and the color and shade of the egg shells. Until you get a fair amount of experience I strongly advise patience before you do anything drastic.

 

[Jo-Anne White]

Thank you so much for your response, & for the link to those great pics unfortunately mine don't look anything like those, so i think mine are in fact dead, But will give them a few more days to be sure!!! Should i open one & have a look inside? would hate to open one & find something moving around in there though

Thanks again

 

[Jo-Anne White]

Will try to take some pics tonight & post them

 

[Ridgerunner]

Unless one is starting to smell with that rotten egg smell, there is no need to stop them. You can always give them more time.

Some of my eggs are pretty hard to see inside they are so dark shelled. The blue/green ones are the worst. I normally candle after 7 days and mark which eggs I think are good or bad, but leave them in. I next candle when I go into lockdown. I’ll remove the clears then. Occasionally I find I was wrong at Day 7.

That’s why I advise patience. It would be quite upsetting to open one early and find a live chick just because of impatience. As you gain experience with your eggs and your candling technique and equipment, you’ll be able to make better decisions. But as long as one is not starting to smell, you don’t lose anything by giving them more time.

 

[Cynthia12]

Unless one is starting to smell with that rotten egg smell, there is no need to stop them. You can always give them more time.

Some of my eggs are pretty hard to see inside they are so dark shelled. The blue/green ones are the worst. I normally candle after 7 days and mark which eggs I think are good or bad, but leave them in. I next candle when I go into lockdown. I’ll remove the clears then. Occasionally I find I was wrong at Day 7.

That’s why I advise patience. It would be quite upsetting to open one early and find a live chick just because of impatience. As you gain experience with your eggs and your candling technique and equipment, you’ll be able to make better decisions. But as long as one is not starting to smell, you don’t lose anything by giving them more time.

I agree!