First candling on day 7, bleeding into day 8.
Sorry about the low picture quality, I could see a lot better with my eyes than I can actually make out on camera. I forgot to turn off my red nightlight before taking pictures, so they all have this red effect that I think may have interfered with the pictures. Also a few of them may be blurry due to my nervous shaking hands
I was able to confirm at least a little growth in all but three (four?) - two of which I suspect were because of the dark shell color, so a big
on those.
So without any further ado, results of the first candling.
First up, Chocolate Chip, one of the Maran eggs. I was incredibly nervous that I wouldn't see anything in this first egg, both due to the dark color and my worry of no development, so I was very happy to see a dark spot.
Looking back after having candled the other eggs, I worry that this one isn't as developed as the others, but I'm sure that at least something has happened inside.
Notes: Cautiously optimistic, a little worried. Picture does not clearly show the dark spot, even with editing
Next up, Rocky Road. Similarly worried, and got similar results. A little more clear than Chocolate Chip that there was something developed, but again, looking back I did not see as much going on as I would have liked.
Notes: Cautiously optimistic, less worried than Chocolate Chip, but still worried.
Neopolitan, one of my favorites to make it. I forgot at the time which order these were in, so I was not nearly as nervous as I should have been, but things seem alright here. I could see some veining, which I could not get to show up in the picture even with editing, but you can clearly see that there's been development.
Note about both Neopolitan and Vanilla Bean, my two Jubilee Orpingtons and by far my lightest eggs: looking at the orientation here, I'm a little worried that I've let the eggs sit on their side too long and that this will effect their air sac and development. I've never hatched shipped eggs before and my incubator is set up with the eggs laying on their side. A later egg confirmed that the air sacs are still wobbly (and on the fat end where they belong), but I'm still going to worry. Maybe I should have put them upright in Dixie cups the first few days since I wasn't going to turn them anyway. Hopefully all is well, and they're turning every two hours now, so we'll have to see.
Notes: Picture, again not great, but definitely the most promising so far on this list.
Vanilla Bean! My other Jubilee Orpington and probably one of the best pictures out of the bunch, which is sad because it's blurry.
Again, can clearly see veining (well, I could, the picture less so) so definitely something happening there. Once again, very dark on one side and clear on the other which is a little odd. Nothing much else to say.
Notes: My most promising out of the bunch in terms of veining. You can kinda almost see veins in the B&W pic
Next up is Superman the Ameraucana, and the first egg I suspect to be a total failure. (Spoiler alert:
Don't get your hopes up for either of the Ameraucanas)
This looks like a red ring of death to me. The picture doesn't convey it well, but it was REALLY red veins too. I'm going to keep it in for a few more days and see if there's any change, but I don't think this one made it.
Notes: Superman wasn't so OP after all
Blue Moon, another Ameraucana and another unfortunate egg.
This is the only egg that I could clearly see into and didn't see anything. Either there wasn't any development at all or development stopped almost immediately. Once again, I'm going to leave it in for a few more days JUST in case, but I have basically zero hope for this egg suddenly producing a chick.
Notes: Just nothing
Onto much lighter news, another favorite of mine (and the one that started the ice cream naming trend), our first olive egger, Minty!
Despite my immense nerves, this is by far the best non-Jubilee Orpington picture, and one of the few I'm confident to say is doing well!
Clear ball of something forming, veins, and I even might have seen some movement. I don't want to jinx it (knock on wood, good vibes,
), but I'm actually hopeful that my favorite might make it.
Notes: I like how the shape is looking, and I may have seen some movement (or maybe just my trembling hands) High hopes (knock on wood)
Next up, Mocha. The picture is ABSOLUTELY garbage, but I think I saw something myself that make me think there was some development. ...I don't remember what it was, but I didn't mark Mocha as a loss in my mind, so there must have been a dark patch that just isn't showing up on camera. Right?
Notes: Skeptical, very sceptical.
Ignore the dark line, just a piece of straw stuck to the egg
Next, the big boy of the all the eggs, Peanut Butter.
Don't get too excited, because the pigment on this egg was so dark I could not see a single thing. Absolutely no light penetrated this shell. From any angle.
Notes: I tried, I swear
After that disappointing candle, we have Sprinkles - another one of my favorites.
Similar to Minty, we've got a decent shape which may indicate it's been developing up until this point. Little worried about how close to the butt end that development is - once again I worry that I've let them sit too long, but we'll see how things turn out.
Notes: A little high, but looking good otherwise
Next up, we have Wasabi. Overall, looking good! Nothing particularly outstanding to me, and the dark eggshell did not do me any favors, but I don't see any cause for concern here other than, once again, might be a little high up.
Notes: Also a little high, but all seems normal here
And finally, we end on another disappointing candle, Pistachio. Once again, basically no light shone through, so it's a bit of a mystery what's going on inside.
Notes: The absolute blurriest picture of them all. I was getting really nervous and just wanted to get them all covered up again, and it was pretty clear that even if I took a second picture, nothing would be visible. Ignore the dark spot, that's a feather stuck to the egg.
So, with that ordeal out of the way, all 12 eggs are back in the incubator (even the 2-3 suspected failures) and I'll check on those three sus ones again on day 10. If nothing has changed by then, I'll remove them and crack them open and see what went wrong.
Eggs are now turning every two hours, and I've had to start adding a bit of water to keep the humidity around 40%.
I DID end up solving my heat leak problem by wrapping a burrito blanket around the incubator and that's managed to keep my temperature consistently around 99.3-99.5 degrees. The incubator is in the same room as a pretty powerful air conditioner, so I'm not sure I can really blame the product.
Pictures are "enhanced" in different ways, whatever worked best with that particular egg to bring out any semblance of what I had actually seen. It mostly did not work, but hopefully next time turning off the red lamp in the room will help.
