First-time incubators want advice with candling decisions

[Silattahoe]

Hi all -
my kids and I built an incubator and are trying to hatch chicken eggs for the first time. We candled on day 6 and saw one egg with a bacteria ring and one that possibly had a ring and one that seemed not fertile. All other eggs had those spidery blood vessels as far as we could tell (a few eggs have a very thick shell and the light didn't shine through very well). We left all 12 eggs in the incubator so that we could check on them again and see if we were right.

Today on day 13, we took out the one with the bacteria ring and the infertile one. Most other eggs are so dark inside that it's hard to see any blood vessels and if the embryo is viable or has quit. I keep reading about eggs that can explode into a stinky mess and am very afraid that that will happen to us and contaminate the incubator with the rest of the eggs. We looked at tons of candling pix but just cannot decide if something is living in our eggs or not. Any more suggestions?

Thanks.
the beginners

 

[nurse_turtle]

Whenever you candle again, sniff each egg. I promise if one goes bad, you'll smell it. If it stinks, handle with care because the gases of decomposition increase pressure inside the egg which leads to 'explosion'. The best candling light I have found is a tiny MagLite made for a keychain. It costs about $5 and the light beam can be focused to a tight point. I've been able to even candle button quail eggs with it. May be worth a try. Sending happy hatching vibes your way.