When did you start to see development when candling your eggs ?

[GeorgRodway]

Hi all, just wondering what day you started to see development in the egg. ? Just curious

 

[nbenevento]

Generally, I don't candle until day 7 and by that point you should easily see the vein network and probably the dark spot of the eye. If you have a good method of candling, you can start to see veins on day 3 but absolutely do not lose hope if you can't see anything as that is way to early to tell very much. My recommendation though is not to candle until day 7. If this is your first hatch, try to resist candling too much because opening the incubator too much can have a lot of negative affects. Do it on day 7 to see if they are developing but don't get rid of any unless they smell. Candle again on day 10 for a better gauge on what is fertile and what is not but still don't throw any away unless they smell. You candle again on day 14 but try to wait until day 18 when you are putting them in lock down. I generally never throw any away unless they smell because sometimes you can be surprised by what hatches and what doesn't.

 

[GeorgRodway]

I see, I open the incubator 3 times a day any way to turn the eggs by hand is this bad ?

 

[nbenevento]

No, you need to turn the eggs since you are not using an automatic egg turner but that only takes a few seconds. Candling requires a longer period of time that the incubator is open and also requires taking the egg completely out of the warm air.

 

[GeorgRodway]

I've only candled once and I noticed in one of my white silkie eggs like a red ring, what is this ?

 

[Apriljc]

A red ring could be a blood ring indication one that was fertile but dish make it. But--you can wait a few days and check again to be sure.

I candle almost daily with no ill effects. I take a few out and into an egg carton, close the bator and go check them out, I return them and get the others. I also turn by hand every day. I have a Genesis and the humidity and temp rebound very quickly in there.

 

[GeorgRodway]

Okay so today is day 7 should I candle ?

 

[JohnsChickens]

I candle twice - once at day 7 to remove clear eggs (infertile) and once at about day 14 to remove dead in shell eggs.

The red ring is typical of a bad egg and will be obvious during the second candling.

There are a couple of candling photos on this page showing good eggs but also a sketch of what is inside the egg at the bottom of the page which explains what is in that big 'dark patch' you see at day 7.

http://poultrykeeper.com/incubating-and-hatching-eggs/candling-eggs

Before day 7 it's harder to make things out so usually best just to wait until then ;-)

Have fun!
John

 

[JohnsChickens]

Oh and as well as that page, just found this which has 'day by day' photos of what you should see:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

I'm getting excited for you, think I'd better get my incubator out again!

 

[GeorgRodway]

Thank you very much I candled today at day 7 and 11 of my 22 eggs have development and have the black dot in them, I believe it's the eye developing. I'm so happy that at least some are developing !!!