Mums to be...

[sheena]

How's everyone's eggs doing?

Are your broody's still sitting tight G4?

Candled yet Kirsty?

If my calculations are right I shall be doing so in a couple of days and we will find out out if this time is a success rather than the dismal failure as my last attempt

[julesapple]

I should think, if you're on Day 8, you should be able to candle now. We did ours on Day 8...10 fertile from 12 eggs. The two non-viables had no yolks in at all.

I'm armed with my stethoscope now.....can't hear much yet, but hopefully we'll be able to hear on hatch day or thereabouts.

The junior delinquents are slowly going off to new homes, so we can re-jig the coops soon.

Jules

[Glutton4...]

Mornin' Sheena

One is sat tight, t'other keeps throwing the eggs out of the nest. She's the one on the fake eggs, so I think I'll leave them under her, as I don't want to risk her doing it with viable eggs.

[sheena]

Well I got up this morning and walked into son's bedroom to be greeted by a fishy smell.

Now I know the kitten's have been in there, so had a whiff inside the incy and sure enough it's coming from there, so not sure which one it is.
I'll candle them on my next turning session... which is now I think.

How can you tell a bad egg? Apart from the smell... would it blindingly obvious if I smelt each egg individually?

[vicky]

Mine is on day 14. She started with 12 but two cracked so now we have 10. 5 are 'our mix' from our own flock and 5 are Norfolk Greys from Ebay. I candled last weekend (day 8) and saw 7 that looked good (dark embryo - moving in some eggs- with the red spiderweb of veins), 2 I wasn't sure about (dark mass but couldn't see spiderweb) and one that I will recandle as I could see nothing inside and the shell looked like it had pock marks over it! First time candling so I didn't dispose of any in case I made a mistake but I will look again as I don't want to leave one in if it's def dodgy.
(I am quite excited!!!)

[vicky]

Sheena - if you can smell one surely there must be a crack in the shell which should be pretty easy to spot when candling?

[sheena]

Well I candled them, and there are a few that don't look to be doing anything, and a few that do... gonna leave it another few days to see what happens.

As for the bad egg, well that was easy to spot in the end... it was the one that was leaking all over the place. That sounds bad don't it... it had a few nobbly bits around the shell of goo that had come out in various places. So I would say it's a safe bet to bin that one.

Just hope it weren't one of my orp eggs, not that I can tell the difference.
Did you get any green shell one's Jules? Mine is so dense, you can't see through the shell, gonna try again tonight when it's pitch black in there and see what's occurring.

[Glutton4...]

Today is DAY TEN for my eggs - should I candle them? I don't really want to disturb the hissing little Viper!

Bummock, bummocks, bummocks! Just noticed, day twenty-four is the day I'll be out having my MRI - I won't be able to lie still!!!!!

[SuzyB]

I dont have any eggs on the go, just wanted to say what a great word bummocks is!

[The Nichols']

Day 12 today. Haven't candled because we upset Bertha when she was sitting on the last lot so left her mostly be.

Started with 10. She kicked 2 out two days in a row so got rid and found a crack in a third on inspection while she was having some water so dumped that one too.

Hopefully have a good lot next week. First batch soon be big enough for the table.

[julesapple]

Well I candled them, and there are a few that don't look to be doing anything, and a few that do... gonna leave it another few days to see what happens.

As for the bad egg, well that was easy to spot in the end... it was the one that was leaking all over the place. That sounds bad don't it... it had a few nobbly bits around the shell of goo that had come out in various places. So I would say it's a safe bet to bin that one.

Just hope it weren't one of my orp eggs, not that I can tell the difference.
Did you get any green shell one's Jules? Mine is so dense, you can't see through the shell, gonna try again tonight when it's pitch black in there and see what's occurring.

No, I've not got any green shelled eggs....sounds good though. Do you think the cracked one might have been one of the eggs I gave you? They had travelled a lot, I was worried about that.

Does anyone have any theories about speckled/patchy shelled eggs? The last lot of Friesian Fowl we had were all infertile and the shells, when candled, we're very patchy. The six we have now are evenly coloured. Also, the two duff SLW eggs that were yolk-less had patchy speckled shells. Some of the shells looked normal but the patches were apparent with candling.

Jules

[sheena]

No, I've not got any green shelled eggs....sounds good though. Do you think the cracked one might have been one of the eggs I gave you? They had travelled a lot, I was worried about that.

Nope it wasn't one of yours... It was one of the ebay one's.

I've marked all the eggs I have gotten, your's were easy as they already had LD on them. Kirsty's were labeled "J" in confusion (i've only just realised - literally)
And the Ebay eggs were marked with an "E"... so no more confusion over what came from where.

Still, not bad going at the mo.. back to the same number as last setting "23".

[gillian62]

I am so excited, 2 of my eggs in the incubator are pipping today. This is our first batch of eggs that we have incubated. They are keeping both my sons quiet today, as they look through the clear top at the progress - more interesting than the tv, can you believe!!
We have 8 eggs which I candled for the second time last week, I think that we have 7 that are fertile. Will let you know progress.

[julesapple]

keeping both my sons quiet today, as they look through the clear top at the progress - more interesting than the tv, can you believe!!

Absolutely!

Jules

[jessmorris]

Hello all,
Sheena asked how peeps were getting on with their eggs...well I've 5 cuckoo d'uccles (Belgian bantams) that have hatched under Audrey, see above on the right (though theye are mostly different colours so not sure they will all be cuckoo), and I have 6 silver partridge Dutch bantams under another broody. They are due on Tuesday so I sprayed them his morning. The eggs look fine and Deirdre keeps them very warm so I haven't candled (I'm too nervous to do it in case I drop the eggs or they get cold, or the hen deserts them to be honest!).
Good luck all,
JM