My way to test eggs for viability.. This is a TEST

Okay.. here is my way of testing eggs for viability...

You know how mom's use their cheek to see if the kids have fever? My hands are always cold or not a good "thermometer" so I have always put my face on the kid's forehead to see if they are warm.

I have found that eggs I don't think are good are chill very fast.. Chicks generate their own heat, but if they are not living, it will cool VERY fast.

I had these eggs out of the bator to go in the hatcher for a max. of 3 minutes.. When I put them on my cheek.. 2 stayed warm.. My guess is that only 2 are good. One Marans and One Ameracauna.

I'm posting this just to test my theory. I hope I remembered which eggs to mark, but here it is. I may be wrong on the Ameracauna egg.. but I remember thinking I should put the Marans egg in the #1 spot with the Ameracauna.. so I know one of the Ameracaunas in the #1 spot (from the right) is the good one.

They are due Saturday. They went in the Hatcher this morning.

That does make sense. Damerow says that as the chicks mature in the egg, they begin to generate their own heat and are not as vulnerable to temp fluctuations in the incubator. That is during the last days of incubation.

I will be very interested in the results of your experiment....it is so heartbreaking to put eggs in the hatcher and then not have them hatch--it would be nice to have some way to predict which ones are most likely too.

And thank you for taking on such a momentous job at the last minute and during the Holidays! You are the BEST!

Great Idea ZZ i will be interested to see how that turns out.

I would like to know which ones aren't going to hatch too it breaks my heart when i have to throw away the unhatched ones.

Thank YOU Catscan... really, I was SO NOT into Christmas this year.. It's crazy, but this just turned the whole world around for me!

I was so excited to get a pip this morning.. AND since I have to wait anyway... and it's pouring rain outside... I ran to the store.. bought the rest of the stuff for the dinner.. and have been cooking since my morning post.
I have also just made 7 pints of strawberry jam.. (yes, I cheated using frozen strawberries, but it's soooo good)
I'm getting ready to make Divinity, yes Claire, with pecans.. and some English Toffee
Krystal is helping chop onions, celery, cook the wild rice and mushrooms... I will be totally ready for stuffing the bird in the morning!

I gotta run.. I just heard peeeeep!

ZZ how do you make your strawberry jam if it's not a secret i would like to know?

Everything sounds so yummy:)

No secret Harmony.. I just got a HUGE bag of frozen strawberries and added 6 cups of sugar and smash the strawberries.. boil till it starts to thicken.. ladle into hot pint jars, boiling water bath for 15 minutes.

It's so yummy.. and I know it's a lot of sugar.. but on German Pancakes, it's amazing.
German Pancakes you say?

8 to 10 eggs beaten slightly
add 1/4 cup oil beat a lil more
1/2 cup milk.. keep mixing slower
add flour till desired thickness..
Cook like pancakes.. no syrup just jam.. Oh yum!

Thank You i see Jars of Jam and German pancakes in my future ^_^

Also.. they keep in the fridge and you can microwave them.. super goood..

I'm making me hungry. LOL

The Ameracauna with the arrow is pipping!

I'm pleased to report I'm WRONG! I have another blue pip!

The good part of this is.... I was pleasantly surprised.

woooohoooo! I wouldnt mind being wrong in that case! You go hatching girl!

So the temp feel of the egg didn't determine which hatched.......

Not in this case.. but I didn't know at the time I checked that it was going to be online.. or that I would use it in such a way that it needed to be precise.. I did a general check.. and did not check each egg individually.. I put my cheek on the group... and did my best to remember which ones I thought were warm.. like several hours later..

I absolutely would never use this method to NOT put one in the hatcher.. but I WOULD use it to get a general idea of which ones are cold as an aide in not getting my hopes up!

My biggest regret is that I did this without knowing I was going to post and use it as a test. It was a suggestion from Catscan to share it.. If I would have prepared, rather than jump in with eyes 1/2 open, I would have checked them more carefully and made sure of my impressions.. AND the position of the eggs.. since I was not sure which one was the warm one when I marked the pic.

Nothing is written in stone Harmony.. it's just an observation.. as is with all the advice here.. No one way is absolute.. take it as good advice if you like, discard it if you don't. What works for one, may not work for another.. doesn't make it wrong. I was in no way trying to state facts and get anyone to change the way they hatch. I was merely trying to share my experiement and findings..

I found it very fascinating i hope with future hatches you do the same and give the results here.

I love it when people aren't afraid to experiment with theories on things.

This is how new ideas and solutions are created by people like you who are curious enough to go for it.

I used so many new approaches to the pox and none were recomended by the Experts and some worked and others didn't.
But it was much better for me to try something than to just let my birds go untreated.

Sounds like a solid theory to me... Maybe Next Hatcher will test it for us? More definitively? I'm glad Cats made you do i! ;-)

This message was edited Dec 26, 2008 2:19 PM

Thank you.. :)

I hope I'm totally wrong here.. and they all hatch.. That wouldn't bother me a bit. LOL

I'll just have to find another hiding place..

I mean.. Ummm brooder..

ZZ I hope all your eggs hatch too :)

But your theory is still interesting and i understand it, That if a chick has died it wouldn't be generateing any heat inside the egg. That would mean the egg would be cooler than the others.

I will try it soon. I have two in the bator now and STILL waiting for 6 by mail. :/

Hello Jean Marie ^_^ going to eat dinner be back soon

Okay! I just got back from another dinner with DH family.

We have one Ameracauna Baby! One other blue pip.. on the top row, next to the Marans egg I thought was good.. No other pips yet.

Congrats!!!!! This is exciting!

I will try out your method. I plan to start bating eggs sometime next month.

Well.. I'm proud to announce I was wrong! Some babiez must just be warmer than others. I have 2 Ameracauna babiez this morning.. so the thing I like most about this is.. NOT to expect all of them to hatch.. then be pleasantly surprised.

The 2 blue eggs on the top row hatched.. and the one with the arrow. 3 Bumbling babiez. Nothing from the brown eggs yet.

Next time.. I won't hold an entire tray of 6 eggs to my cheek at once and try to remember which ones were cooler and which ones were warm.

Also.. I will mark them as I put them in the hatcher. Even if it's totally wrong, it's worth trying out..

That is a fact ZZ!
Mission accomplished! You will receive your purple heart with feathers shortly!

ZZ congrats on the hatch and i will be waiting for the results of your next experiment. You can become our resident chicken scientest. ^_^