Confused on incubating eggs

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Perspicacity

Perspicacity

Hatching
Sep 29, 2015
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Hello there,

I'm relatively new to hatching eggs, and I recently obtained eggs from my chicken house (They were straight after the chicken laid them as we collected a few of the eggs the previous morning). Since then, I've got around 17 in my incubator that I've found. Some of them are likely infertile as I've candled all of them, but a few of them I'm not sure about.

One of my eggs is on Day 10, and when I candled it today (or the past few days) all I can see is a large black 'thing' inside it. It's a bit hard to see and I'm not sure if there are veins in it, if anyone could tell me what this means and if my chick is still alive, thanks!

Sidenote : I'm hatching black orpington eggs.
 
700


Congrats on hatching eggs! With a staggered hatch like it sounds like you have, it will be a bit harder than normal, but will probably be fine. Can you post a picture of your egg? Did it have veins you could clearly see before and now it doesn't? If that's the case, unfortunately that is a sign that the embryo inside died, since the veins disintegrate when they quit. If you haven't been able to see veins until this point, which is possible if the shell is thick or your flashlight isn't bright enough, it could be that it's doing fine. Next time you candle, look for movement. They will usually start moving around when the light shines into their egg.
 
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I haven't seen any development of veins, I think the problem was the shell, although not sure yet. Will post picture soon :) I've also tried water candling and the egg sunk, so not sure if it is still developing
 
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What color are the eggs and how are you candling? Do you see the air cell? With a bright flashlight you should be able to see the veins right under the air cell. Also, since you did not put all the eggs into the incubator on the same day, did you mark the eggs on the different days?
 
My eggs are a light shade of brown, I'm candling from the side of the eggs. Not sure about the air cell, maybe my torch isn't bright enough to see it (LED ; got it from the dollar store xP) I've sorted them into seperate piles away from each other so I can tell which batch is which (Also marked a small number on each egg - 1 for batch 1, 2 for batch 2 ect.)
 
Hold the egg fat end up, and shine the light straight down into the fat end. That's where the air cell should be. Move the light around the egg. A small dark spot could be the eyes developing. A large dark blob may just be a dense area of the yolk, alot depends on your light and how dark/thick the shell is. Light brown eggs can usually be seen through, but can be hard if the shells are thick. Doing it in a really dark room helps alot too.
Google or search on here for candling pics, there are some good ones. YouTube has some great candling videos too.
 
This is one of my favorite candling pics. I took this on day 14, it hatched on day 22. These shells were easy to see through, but this is what the veins should look like.

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You see the top (fat end) of WV's egg, where the light looks the brightest? That's the air cell. On eggs that are hard to see in, you can usually always get glimpse of the veins right under the air cell. I've picked up cheap candlers, as long as they were LED & new batteries, they've worked great. It just takes a little practice.
 
Yep, hi Ruby!
I also meant to say, the chick is mostly on the other side of the egg, so it looks kinda empty from that side. But the veins wrap all the way around the egg. That's why its good to rotate the egg as you view.
 

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