Day 8: Incubation Update (1/3 of the way!)

[trystinn]

Much to Libby's dismay, as she has dedicated herself to supervising the incubator, I've just finished candling all 48 light brown silkie eggs. There's 4 eggs I'm fairly sure are duds, though for a variety of reasons.

Egg #1: Lots of speckling, aka bright pinpoints that indicate the egg shell is too thin and very porous. It may still hatch, however.
Egg #2: No air cell, likely means the egg wasn't fertilized.
Egg #3: Green. Just oddly green. Martian egg? Non-performer, in any case.
Egg #4: Red ring, aka bacterial growth likely. Typically means it wasn't fertilized and the incubation temps are aiding the rotting of the egg. If not removed in time, they can explode. Stinky and messy!

At Day 8, the chick embryos will have developed a beak, the buds that will become their wings and feet have separated into digits. Little holes in their skin will soon allow feathers to begin to poke through. The egg tooth is beginning to form. Ideally, I'd be able to see the "spider", aka embryo growth. The dark spot in the center is the embryo's eye(s) developing which was identifiable by Day 3. The spider's legs are actually blood veins reaching out to encase the inner membrane layer of the egg. Later on, should the chick hit one of these veins while pipping, the chick will bleed out or drown in its own blood. Very sad, we had that happen last time at hatching.

In most of them though what we can see right now is a well-developed air sack, reaching down from the rounded end of the egg at a diagonal (the angle of which will tell you development stage), a bit of a dark spot of eye development and a few veins.

Will try for pictures and update this if possible. So far, the damn flash is making anything useful impossible to get!

Its a bit obscure, but you can feel a bit of thrumming energy from a good egg. With duck eggs, I can usually hear the heartbeat about now, but with these tiny Silkie eggs its harder as everything is so much smaller. With these, there's just the slightest pulsation - an impossibly soft wooshing that's more sensation than hearing at present. I can't even be sure its the egg and not my own blood flow somehow magnified by the idiocy of my sticking an egg in my ear. :)

Comments

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

Have you ever had eggs hatched naturally as opposed to in an incubator? Does it pose a lot of problems? I'm also wondering about the problems posed by mixed flocks do you get a lot of cross breeds that no one wants?

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

Yep, our ducks and Rhodies hatch their own. Our ducks have been very good broodies, as have the Rhodies. Not all breeds brood, so the only way to keep the breed going is to either: a) brood under another broody hen (aka Silkies) or b) incubate. As no one is brooding at present, we're doing the Silkie eggs the new fashion way. Once those Silkies grow up, I'll likely have them brood the old fashioned way. Silkies are world reknown broodies and are happy to brood and raise ANYTHING. Literally, they've given Silkies alligator eggs. Geesh.

Mixbreed chicks and ducklings certainly don't go for as much money, but they are still very easy to sell. For instance our Rhodie/Cochin mix chicks were highly desirable last Fall because both breeds are known for being great flock birds and prolific layers. Plus, they would have grown up to be blue Rhodies!

Come spring, our plan is to divide the ducks into three breeding pens (KCs, Rouens & Swedes) so we can control who is breeding with who so as not to have the mix issue.

[evaelisabeth.livejournal.com]

I've heard about the legendary hatching capacity of the silkies, its funny that such a small funny little bird has that much tenacity. If we ever decide to breed I've considered getting one or two for the hatching. Would having a very large rooster be a problem mixing with little bantam sized birds? That would be quite the cross breed JG x Silkie.

I'm getting more convinced that the Jersey Giants will be what we will get. Have you ever had chickens that large? I'm wondering whether a regular sized brooding box will be large enough?

Brian wants to try ducks in the future but we really don't need that many eggs and we have agreed that keeping it simple is a good idea at this stage. I might fatten a couple of geese next year for the Holidays though as they are tres expensive to buy.

[wild-heart.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you need an itty bitty stethoscope.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

That could work!