How to keep eggs warm during candling?

I am following the hatching instructions I got from the BYC Learning Center. It says candling at 7th day, which is today. Ok, but how do I keep the eggs warm during this process? I am concerned about the batch in the incubator as well as the individual egg I'm candling. I've never candled before, have a brand new candler (LED type), but you're also supposed to mark each egg for its air sac level. That is all going to take some time. I'm having trouble visualizing this. What is the process? I have a styrofoam Hova-Bator with single big clear window on top. Thanks for any input.

Victoria-nola said:

I am following the hatching instructions I got from the BYC Learning Center.  It says candling at 7th day, which is today.  Ok, but how do I keep the eggs warm during this process? I am concerned about the batch in the incubator as well as the individual egg I'm candling. I've never candled before, have a brand new candler (LED type), but you're also supposed to mark each egg for its air sac level.  That is all going to take some time.  I'm having trouble visualizing this.  What is the process?  I have a styrofoam Hova-Bator with single big clear window on top. Thanks for any input.

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You don't have to keep them warm during candling. They can stand some period of cooling because the hen has to get off the nest each day during incubation. Some higher tier incubators even have cooling cycles that cool them automatically each day.

Pyxis said:

You don't have to keep them warm during candling. They can stand some period of cooling because the hen has to get off the nest each day during incubation. Some higher tier incubators even have cooling cycles that cool them automatically each day.

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x2 And remember that it takes a little time for the dense inner part of the egg to cool off too - it doesn't instantly respond to a change in temp. What I usually did was take a few out and lay them on a soft towel so they wouldn't roll or fall down and break, then put the lid back on the incubator to retain as much heat in there as possible. That way it didn't take the incubator as long to come back up to temp. Candle the ones you have out, mark the air cells, then put them back and take a few more out. Worked for me, anyway.

Ok, great, thank you Pyxis and Blooie. I appreciate the help. It makes sense. NERVOUS!!!

Ok, I did the candling. 5 of 22 look clear or much slower than the others. I just left them in there though. Even though the thermometers/hydrometers got moved around a bit in the process, the temp has returned to what it was all along. phew.

What a fun thing to do, to see the development really happening. Never had these at grammar school or anything. And they are the offspring of my own chickens who are really pets, so this is just really cool.

Thanks for the timely help that allowed me to get this done on day 7.

Also, Blooie, I saw your link about brooding outside and I had been thinking about how to do that. Now I have a whole lot more information to draw from and I really appreciate it! The dust in the house is very difficult for me, but the biggest benefit in my mind is that the Littles and the Bigs will more naturally blend together.

One of your commenters mentioned wishing they could know more about your coop, that it looks interesting. I'm curious also. It looks like you're using those 4'x8' wood trellises? Or maybe they're the vinyl ones? Are they bent over cattle panels that are hooped? I can't figure it out but am very curious.

Thanks again, I feel so relieved about everything.

You can click on the link under my avatar and it goes into the details of the build. The white vinyl lattice started out as a little fence for decoration since our coop is visible from two sides of the street (we live in town on a corner lot) but quickly proved its worth in so many other ways. We use it over top of the cattle panels as a spacer so the wires holding the chicken wire to the cattle panels don't poke holes in the plastic we put over it in winter. Because it's so flexible, we just sort of drape it over the top and lace it down. More details are available on My Coop. Thanks for asking!

Thank you! Reading about it now. Also, reading further into the outdoor brooding and the Mama Hen heating pad thread. Thanks so much, I'm setting it up now, halfway through my first incubation and need to be ready.