Egg Candling! Tips, Tricks, and Best Practices.

[PippinTheChicken]

Pippin is sitting on a Copper Maran egg and a suspected light Sussex egg as the moment, your tips are going to help me when it's time to candle.
Click here to see

 

[CluckNDoodle]

How can I candle Maran's eggs?
I heard you have to wait until day 11 or something and use an extra bright light

I use a high lumen flashlight to candle dark eggs and I usually wait until day 10 before I remove clear eggs.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

I would never throw away an egg unless I knew 2000000000% that it was bad or would explode soon

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I would never throw away an egg unless I knew 2000000000% that it was bad or would explode soon

That's why I always suggest the sniff test when all else fails, lol. If you're not sure then just make sure the egg isn't stinky and continue to wait.

 

[PippinTheChicken]

when's the earliest that you can candle a white egg (not dark) and see something?
Pippin is only on day 3 but I'm getting super impatient!!!!!!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

when's the earliest that you can candle a white egg (not dark) and see something?
Pippin is only on day 3 but I'm getting super impatient!!!!!!

In a white egg you can sometimes see development as early as day 2 but almost definitely by day 3 if you have a bright candler.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

when's the earliest that you can candle a white egg (not dark) and see something?
Pippin is only on day 3 but I'm getting super impatient!!!!!!

The very first image in the first post shows day 3 in a white egg.

 

[Luv Ducks]

I would like to tell you my experience of hatching out abandon duck eggs from my Momma domestic Mallard duck. One duckling had hatched out over a week before. It was a Mallard. She was sitting on both Mallard and Rouen eggs. Drake Daddy killed that baby so I separated her from all of the other ducks. This upset her however and she eventually left the nest and just quacked running back and forth wanting to join the flock. I had no idea how far along the eggs were. They were cold to the touch and had not been sat on for at least 12 hours in low 50 degree weather. I made a homemade incubator. A reading light from my bedside with a 40 watt bulb attached to a small styrofoam cooler, two small towels in the bottom, a $2.00 thermometer, a coffee cup full of warm water. I turned the eggs 7 times a day. I watched the thermometer to make sure it was near 100 degrees and low and behold a week later I got a baby duck! Now another one is trying to hatch out and I had 6 eggs I had taken from the Rouen nest as I wanted Rouen babies. Daddy is a Mallard and one side of its face has two stripes and the other one stripe. I am hoping for a hen and it is doing just fine, eating and drinking just six hours after hatching and in the brooder. I am sure the experts will tell you I did everything wrong but it worked out right. Another one is trying to hatch and the eggs I took from the nest are developing. Good luck if you decide to try this method, It surely is working for me.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I would like to tell you my experience of hatching out abandon duck eggs from my Momma domestic Mallard duck. One duckling had hatched out over a week before. It was a Mallard. She was sitting on both Mallard and Rouen eggs. Drake Daddy killed that baby so I separated her from all of the other ducks. This upset her however and she eventually left the nest and just quacked running back and forth wanting to join the flock. I had no idea how far along the eggs were. They were cold to the touch and had not been sat on for at least 12 hours in low 50 degree weather. I made a homemade incubator. A reading light from my bedside with a 40 watt bulb attached to a small styrofoam cooler, two small towels in the bottom, a $2.00 thermometer, a coffee cup full of warm water. I turned the eggs 7 times a day. I watched the thermometer to make sure it was near 100 degrees and low and behold a week later I got a baby duck! Now another one is trying to hatch out and I had 6 eggs I had taken from the Rouen nest as I wanted Rouen babies. Daddy is a Mallard and one side of its face has two stripes and the other one stripe. I am hoping for a hen and it is doing just fine, eating and drinking just six hours after hatching and in the brooder. I am sure the experts will tell you I did everything wrong but it worked out right. Another one is trying to hatch and the eggs I took from the nest are developing. Good luck if you decide to try this method, It surely is working for me.

There's really no "wrong" way, just tried and true tested ways to improve hatch rate. It sounds like your quick thinking saved some babies and there's certainly nothing wrong with that! The first time I had a broody hen I didn't have an incubator yet and my story was similar to yours with cold eggs in cold weather. I used a plastic container with a lamp over the top and a seedling heating pad underneath to try to create a stable temperature, lol, we use what we have available to us! Good luck with the rest of your hatch!

 

[Kellyjenny]

That's why I always suggest the sniff test when all else fails, lol. If you're not sure then just make sure the egg isn't stinky and continue to wait.