Where is the air sac?

[kmfriend]

This is my first time attempting to hatch eggs. Today is day 15. I did not candle at day 7, but I did today. I see a dark mass but I am having trouble deciding if the eggs have air sacs or not. I have had the temp a steady 99F - 100F except for a few hours yesterday when the plug was knocked out of the wall. When I noticed, the temp was down to 67F. I plugged in the incubator and temp went back up. Could this have caused any developing chicks to die?

I also am not measuring humidity. I have a beaker of water in the incubator that I fill up when it gets low. I took it out this morning when I was worried about no air sac.

I would appreciate any advice on what veteran hatchers think of my photos.

 

[youngchooklover]

I am sorry I wouldn't know but welcome to BYC.

 

[chickienewbie88]

They're going to be located at the very top of the fat end of the egg (which should be incubated with that end up too, in case you didn't know). I know people all do candling differently, but I've found the most success with using an LED flashlight from the top (fat end) shining down into the egg at a slight angle away from me. That way I can see the air cell well enough to outline and keep tabs on. On the 2nd and 3rd pictures you posted you can see the air cell all the way to the left, on the other side of the dark area. I can't tell very well from your pictures, and I'm used to my method as well, but you should be seeing lots of veins going down the length of the egg at this point and it looks like your air cell might be a little small. If it is, run the bator dry until day 18. Again, it's hard for me to tell. I'm no expert by any means, currently doing my first incubation as well. Also, if you see the veins migrating towards the middle of the egg in a ring, the embryo died. If you see no veins at this point, they were sterile eggs. Hope this helps a bit. Welcome to BYC!!

 

[kmfriend]

Thank you for the quick responses. I candled again the way you mentioned and I did not see any veins.

I will keep going and see what happens. And I am running it dry.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[chickienewbie88]

Well I hope they turn out.. you should be seeing veining, if not then they may not be fertile. But if you want, run them a while longer.. if you don't see anything in a few days I'd try a water test for viability. Fingers Crossed for ya!!

 

[mortie]

Due to the angle of the eggs in some of the pics, it's difficult to say but I would tend to agree with the previous poster. The air cells look small for the day you say these are and these are not what I would expect day 15 eggs to look like. Here are some nice pictures of what eggs look like during candling on the different days.

https://scratchcradle.wordpress.com/resources/candling-pictures/

 

[mortie]

Oh - and to answer your question about the temp- I have read numerous accounts of the same type of thing happening to people and they were fine. They are far more likely to die from high temps than low. Mother hens get off the nest for a while every day and the eggs cool down - some incubators even have a daily cool down cycle. I wouldn't worry about that.

What kind of incubator are you using? Still air or does it have a fan? Where did you get your eggs?

 

[kmfriend]

Last October I bought 4 chicks from a boy who had incubated them, so they were not sexed. Three of them matured into roosters. Before I gave away the last rooster, he was mating with my other hens. Perhaps he was not mature enough?

I am not hopeful now, but will keep the incubator running. I borrowed the incubator from a student and I bought an egg turner. It does have a fan.

 

[kmfriend]

Great photos. Thank you for posting that link. I did not candle at day 7 as I was too worried about opening the incubator. Now I realize that is less of a problem. I most likely do not have fertile eggs, but just in case, I'll keep going.

 

[mortie]

How long ago did you give the last rooster away?