So I'm sure this won't come as a surprise, but I candled 3 of the eggs today (5, 6, and 7). All three were coming along nicely. I was surprised at how much they've changed since I last checked them. They're growing bigger all the time!
I'm starting to feel cautiously excited that I'm actually going to have a successful hatch this time!!
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Day 10
Well, I candled the eggs in the Brower incubator, and I'm still 99% sure none of them are still alive. I'm more or less just letting them go because they don't stink and it doesn't hurt anything.
I candled two of the eggs (#3 and #4) in the Brinsea, and they are both alive and moving. I'm surprised at how much of a difference just a day or so makes. Already they are much darker in the shell, and it's a lot harder to see anything. Since the first two were so much harder to see, I left the rest alone. I am going to attempt to not mess with them any more as far as candling goes until day 18. I figure that each time I take them out, I run the risk of either breaking one, or introducing bacteria.
I am still extremely worried about the air cell issue. It would be heartbreaking to lose these chickens that close to the end due to careless post office handling. I guess there's not much I can do, other than to keep my fingers crossed.
I candled two of the eggs (#3 and #4) in the Brinsea, and they are both alive and moving. I'm surprised at how much of a difference just a day or so makes. Already they are much darker in the shell, and it's a lot harder to see anything. Since the first two were so much harder to see, I left the rest alone. I am going to attempt to not mess with them any more as far as candling goes until day 18. I figure that each time I take them out, I run the risk of either breaking one, or introducing bacteria.
I am still extremely worried about the air cell issue. It would be heartbreaking to lose these chickens that close to the end due to careless post office handling. I guess there's not much I can do, other than to keep my fingers crossed.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Day 7
It's actually day 8 now, but it's early in the day.
I candled last night, when it was still day 7. I saw movement in eggs 1-7, with the exception of egg #4. There was veining in 4, but I didn't see movement.
Temps in the Brower had been really low all day (like mid 90s) and I couldn't bring them up. I only candled cracked egg, and it didn't look good.
I tried to crank the temp a little higher, and this morning, temps were around 104, so I'm pretty sure all of the eggs in the Brower are dead. I'll let them go a couple more days, just to be sure, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up tossing everything in there by Wednesday. I don't know how anything could survive the erratic temps of that incubator.
I did take a picture of egg #6 last night. I wanted to show how odd the air cells in these eggs are.
Same egg, but from a different angle. As you can see, the air cell
is more on the side than on the bottom.
I also took video of this same egg, and if you watch carefully, you can actually see the embryo moving around.
So this is a day 7 embryo. Kind of neat, huh?
I candled last night, when it was still day 7. I saw movement in eggs 1-7, with the exception of egg #4. There was veining in 4, but I didn't see movement.
Temps in the Brower had been really low all day (like mid 90s) and I couldn't bring them up. I only candled cracked egg, and it didn't look good.
I tried to crank the temp a little higher, and this morning, temps were around 104, so I'm pretty sure all of the eggs in the Brower are dead. I'll let them go a couple more days, just to be sure, but I'm pretty sure I'll end up tossing everything in there by Wednesday. I don't know how anything could survive the erratic temps of that incubator.
I did take a picture of egg #6 last night. I wanted to show how odd the air cells in these eggs are.
is more on the side than on the bottom.
I also took video of this same egg, and if you watch carefully, you can actually see the embryo moving around.
Friday, December 23, 2011
6 days
All right, I *almost* made it to my 7 day goal. I was going along, nice and strong.
Then, my boss came over today, and expressed a lot of interest in my incubating eggs. I ended up candling one, just to show her what could possibly be seen. I showed her egg #3, and we saw lots of veining, and a little wiggling shadow.
I thought that would be enough to hold me until tomorrow morning, but I just couldn't hold off. So, I just got done candling. My 10 eggs are 12 hours away from 7 days along, neighbor eggs are exactly 7 days along.
Of mine, eggs 1-7 are in the Brinsea, and they all showed veining AND movement. Eggs 8-10 are in the Brower, and they were less defined. I couldn't see veining, but the shells seemed to be darker, and I couldn't see them as clearly. Eggs A,B, C are my neighbor's. Cracked egg has a wiggling little guy in it. Couldn't see anything in the other two, and I'm about ready to call them duds.
Eggs 7 and 8 have gone back and forth. I put the eggs I thought had the best chance of survival in the Brinsea. Egg #7 started out in the Brinsea, but on Tuesday, I realized the air cell was goofy, so I switched it with #8. Tonight though, I felt #7, so I switched them back.
I am cautiously excited. I am worried though, as almost all of them seem to have really goofy air cells, more on the side than the top/fat end. I'm not sure how to adjust the angle given the incubator I have.
Then, my boss came over today, and expressed a lot of interest in my incubating eggs. I ended up candling one, just to show her what could possibly be seen. I showed her egg #3, and we saw lots of veining, and a little wiggling shadow.
I thought that would be enough to hold me until tomorrow morning, but I just couldn't hold off. So, I just got done candling. My 10 eggs are 12 hours away from 7 days along, neighbor eggs are exactly 7 days along.
Of mine, eggs 1-7 are in the Brinsea, and they all showed veining AND movement. Eggs 8-10 are in the Brower, and they were less defined. I couldn't see veining, but the shells seemed to be darker, and I couldn't see them as clearly. Eggs A,B, C are my neighbor's. Cracked egg has a wiggling little guy in it. Couldn't see anything in the other two, and I'm about ready to call them duds.
Eggs 7 and 8 have gone back and forth. I put the eggs I thought had the best chance of survival in the Brinsea. Egg #7 started out in the Brinsea, but on Tuesday, I realized the air cell was goofy, so I switched it with #8. Tonight though, I felt #7, so I switched them back.
I am cautiously excited. I am worried though, as almost all of them seem to have really goofy air cells, more on the side than the top/fat end. I'm not sure how to adjust the angle given the incubator I have.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Famous Last Words
DH's McGyver move on the incubator has worked beautifully. In fact, I think it's actually much better than the original heating element. The temperature has been much, much steadier, which makes me very happy. It won't work once chicks hatch, but I figure we have a couple weeks before we have to worry about that.
You'd think I'd learn by now to NOT say, "I won't candle until XXX". I've never stuck to that. Ever. Ever ever. I totally lack any kind of self control. It makes it worse that I've had these issues with the Brower incubator- it makes me more anxious to candle those eggs to see if they have a prayer of surviving. The seven eggs in my brinsea haven't been as big of a temptation.
So, this evening I candled. I am pretty sure I saw veining in egg #7, which is in the Brower. Neighbor egg that was dropped seems like it's developed a little more, but frankly, I don't hold out much hope for it. It's such a shame, because I saw definite veining in it yesterday, and it seems to be the only fertile egg my neighbor gave me. Her other two eggs don't seem to have anything in them, but we're only day 3 or 4. I'm a little confused on that. How about, it's been about 90 hours since the neighbor eggs have been in? It's winter, and her rooster is only about 5 weeks out from a fairly severe injury, and he's blind in one eye as a result of the injury. It wouldn't surprise me if his fertility is gone.
On a more stalkerish note, I hatched some eggs in August from my flock. I gave the four chicks to my brother in law and sister in law. They can't have roosters, so when two of the chicks turned out to be roosters, they rehomed them. They're pretty sure the prettier rooster is just down the road from me, with a family that sells eggs out of their house. I've been contemplating buying eggs from them, and I'm seriously considering buying some, and trying to find out if they do have my "grandchick".
You'd think I'd learn by now to NOT say, "I won't candle until XXX". I've never stuck to that. Ever. Ever ever. I totally lack any kind of self control. It makes it worse that I've had these issues with the Brower incubator- it makes me more anxious to candle those eggs to see if they have a prayer of surviving. The seven eggs in my brinsea haven't been as big of a temptation.
So, this evening I candled. I am pretty sure I saw veining in egg #7, which is in the Brower. Neighbor egg that was dropped seems like it's developed a little more, but frankly, I don't hold out much hope for it. It's such a shame, because I saw definite veining in it yesterday, and it seems to be the only fertile egg my neighbor gave me. Her other two eggs don't seem to have anything in them, but we're only day 3 or 4. I'm a little confused on that. How about, it's been about 90 hours since the neighbor eggs have been in? It's winter, and her rooster is only about 5 weeks out from a fairly severe injury, and he's blind in one eye as a result of the injury. It wouldn't surprise me if his fertility is gone.
On a more stalkerish note, I hatched some eggs in August from my flock. I gave the four chicks to my brother in law and sister in law. They can't have roosters, so when two of the chicks turned out to be roosters, they rehomed them. They're pretty sure the prettier rooster is just down the road from me, with a family that sells eggs out of their house. I've been contemplating buying eggs from them, and I'm seriously considering buying some, and trying to find out if they do have my "grandchick".
Monday, December 19, 2011
Incubator Failure?!
Seriously, I'm beginning to think I'm star crossed.
I went down to turn the eggs in the Brower incubator before I went to bed and discovered the temperature was in the mid 70s. Turns out the heating element has failed. My mechanical engineer husband found some corrosion and with some fancy tool he has, found that there's some kind of short in the heating element, which is this circular coil thing.
I stuck the 6 remaining eggs in the oven, and hopefully turned the oven to about 100. Meanwhile, he rigged up a light bulb that attaches to the thermostat.
Unfortunately, I dropped one of my neighbor's eggs during all of this mad transporting. There's a bit of a crack in it. I sealed it up with wax. I candled it, because I'm a sucker. There's definite veining. Of course. I candled the other two of my neighbor's, since they went in Friday night, and the broken one is the only one I saw anything in. I know it's really, really really early, like not even 72 hours on them. But, it seems like I've just had a really tough time with this incubator, and I wonder if this hatch is doomed too.
I still have 7 eggs in the brinsea. I am not going to candle them until at least day 4-5.
I went down to turn the eggs in the Brower incubator before I went to bed and discovered the temperature was in the mid 70s. Turns out the heating element has failed. My mechanical engineer husband found some corrosion and with some fancy tool he has, found that there's some kind of short in the heating element, which is this circular coil thing.
I stuck the 6 remaining eggs in the oven, and hopefully turned the oven to about 100. Meanwhile, he rigged up a light bulb that attaches to the thermostat.
Unfortunately, I dropped one of my neighbor's eggs during all of this mad transporting. There's a bit of a crack in it. I sealed it up with wax. I candled it, because I'm a sucker. There's definite veining. Of course. I candled the other two of my neighbor's, since they went in Friday night, and the broken one is the only one I saw anything in. I know it's really, really really early, like not even 72 hours on them. But, it seems like I've just had a really tough time with this incubator, and I wonder if this hatch is doomed too.
I still have 7 eggs in the brinsea. I am not going to candle them until at least day 4-5.
Down to 10
I figure I'm about 48 hours in, so I thought I'd check on them to see if the air cell had reattached. Not only had they not reattached, but they were both weeping. This is very bad news for incubating eggs. So, I've taken them out of the incubator and am tossing them. I thought I'd show you what they looked like when being candled.
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| porous egg. It also had a detached air cell, but it is really tough to see in this photo |
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| egg with detached air cell |
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