Two evenings ago, I candled the eggs again and set out all the eggs that didn't appear to be developing according to the information I found on the Internet including pictures. The next morning my oldest took them outside to crack them open to see what they looked like on the inside. Out of eleven of the eggs there were live, well developing chicks in three of them. They had even survived a night out on the kitchen counter. I can't tell you how upsetting this was! Daughter was heartbroken to see the little bitty chicks (week old) now dieing in their broken shells. It was sad for me too and frustrating. I suppose I should count it up as a learning experience.
What went wrong? I made my judgements based on info and pictures from several sources on the Internet which made it clear to me that exact temperature is of utmost importance...life or death importance, and it took me about 36 hours to finally get the temp to a steady 99 degrees. It had jumped up and down between 96 and 103 degrees (at least.) The thermometer is on the top shelf and is actually cooler that the bottom shelf while the heat is on (it has a thermostat to kick the heat on and off as necessary) so the bottom shelf of eggs actually got even warmer than that. So that was, in my mind, problem number one. Then when I candled them, comparing to pictures of good and bad eggs on the Internet, I separated what I thought were good and bad eggs. The pictures are not totally accurate. In some of the eggs that clearly have a developing chick kicking around inside, a few of them also appear to have a blood ring around in them too which is supposed to be a sign of bacteria and the death of the chick in early development. Another suggestion made on one or two of these sites also stated that a bad egg (rotten) would explode if you left it in the incubator, so it's important to get rid of them asap. In my mind, I know my eggs are fresh from the chicken and they can and do keep very well on the kitchen counter for two or three weeks so why shouldn't I just leave them in the incubator for three weeks? It's not like we have exploding eggs in nature when a mother hen is sitting on the eggs herself, is it? Oh, and most of the eggs I removed were from the bottom shelf. The eggs on the top shelf were very easy to candle and I hung onto a few I wasn't sure about and glad I did. They are probably just fine too.
Another thing I think I've learned is that these little eggs are a lot tougher than what I had read. The temperature and humidity don't have to be exactly perfect at all times. I also haven't washed my hands before handling them most of the time. I do wash my hands throughout the day before and after cooking, dishes, bathroom, diapers etc but I usually have forgotten to wash them before turning and candling them. There's a big learning curve in all this homesteading business. Especially when you don't have someone along side you helping who has experience. It's almost a lost art and I fear Americans are really going to suffer because of it.
Back to the eggs. I could, in the future, just put eggs in the incubator and skip candling them altogether as long as I'm turning them, but I enjoy seeing the little critters in there kicking around, it's pretty amazing. I did decide to add eleven fresh eggs to the incubator so I will have two hatch dates. They'll only be a week apart so I know (from experience) that won't be a problem when we put them together in the brooder and I don't see why having the different aged eggs in the incubator at the same time will be a problem either. You're supposed to stop turning them on day eighteen so the chicks can get their bearings before they hatch and you're also supposed to increase the humidity. Maybe for some reason that's optimal, but I don't know how a mother hen would increase the humidity for her eggs so I'm not going to worry about it. Our friend (who owns the incubator) never checked the humidity level at all. He kept an eye on the temp, turned them and kept a tub of water in the bottom and he's never had any problems.
I've got less than two weeks before my first clutch (is that the right word???) begins hatching so I'm pretty excited.
No comments:
Post a Comment