when to candle?

[urbanhomesteader]

Hi all,

Total newbie to incubating chickens.
I have had my Cuckoo Maran eggs in the incubator for three days now. When should I candle to see if there is any growth? How often should I candle? will it do them harm if I do it to often?

Thanks,
Rachel

 

[shadi]

you can candle everyday just get them back in within 30 min. You can see the air cell the 1st day if infertal they dont have 1. If you want pics of them growing put on candler with all other lights out and flash off it's cool.

 

[jimnjay]

There is a small air cell in all eggs fertile or not. Maran Eggs will be extreamly difficult to see anything untill later. I would wait till 10 days if it were me. You will more than likely have to judge by the air cell.. Hopefully someone that has Marans will come along and give you some advise. I find it hard to see anything in my RIR eggs untill 10 days. Lighter eggs are easy to determine by the development of veins that can be seen when candling. Those do not show up on dark eggs.

If you are turning by had then by all means candle often if you feel the need and it can help in learning what to look for. If you have a turner, then I would only candle on day 10 and 18. JMHO

 

[SkeeredChicken]

I have Buff Orpington eggs in my incubator. They're a brown egg. I have candled every few days from day 5. But I think I actually saw some development of blood vessels at around day 4 or 5. It may have actually been closer to day 7. It was quite interesting to see, since this the absolute 1st time I've incubated eggs, or will have chickens.

I have family that used to be heavily into farming. But sadly, that's not something that I've been around. Needless to say, I still have some interest in it. I started incubating, because I've wanted to since I was like 10 years old. It's just been and itch I had to scratch recently. So far, I've been pleased with the results.

 

[shadi]

I swear when I picked my 31 eggs only 2 didn't hatch and they had formed chicks just never pipped and no signs of movement. You can tell the air cell of a fertilized egg -I picked all mine the evening I collected them, they just look different and white -brown and green eggs. And I wasn't expecting 29 chicks but I got and their cute as a bugs ear. You can candle them every day and I kept a chart every breed on a different paper and took pics-lol a lil fanatic u think

 

[urbanhomesteader]

Well I tried candling them. I couldn't see much, just the shadow of the yolk. I couldn't tell if there was an air sack. I think I need a stronger light. I used a 45watt. bulb. I will pick up a 75watt. today and try again tonight.

 

[LonestarChick]

I too am brand new to incubating eggs ~ I have one incubator with Salmon Faverolle eggs; the other incubator has Cukoo Marans, Welsummers, Aracauna Bantams, and Silver Laced Wyandottes. I just candled for the first time on day 7 and 9 out of 10 were clearly fertile and growing. Tomorrow will be day 7 for the other bator and I hope my odds are as good there.

Its tough to keep your humidity just right and even tougher to keep your temperature between 99.5 - 100.0, I've found.

Keep us posted on your progess!
Happy hatching!

 

[jimnjay]

The best thing I have found to candle with is a mini maglight flash light. You can dial it down to a very fine light beam. When candling you need to have a dark room and a way to pin point the light to just the egg. Shine it on the Large end of the egg and rotate the egg around the light. You will see the air cell clearly. As mentioned all eggs have an air cell it is very small when they are fresh. I using a light bulf you need to make a funnel or something to filter the light to a very fine beam. Some use Paper towel tubs.

 

[hinkjc]

In my opinion you should not candle every day. There are several reasons, but I'll focus on the most important...you have a very fragile embryo trying to grow in there.

It is best to wait to candle until day 7 on white & brown eggs. Colored and very dark eggs, I wait until day 10. You really can't see much in there before then. On white eggs is an exception and you can see growth (vein networks) fairly early. I discourage candling in the first week though, as this is when some of the most vital embryo development initiates.

Another thing to remember during candling is very gentle handling. Never turn the egg to try to get a better look. This can cause problems with the embryo getting twisted up in the vein network and cause it to perish. During candling, simply lift the egg gently to the light source, get a quick look to identify growth and place it back in its warm incubator as soon as possible.

I know how exciting it is to see if something is happening, but patience will pay off if you wait until you can clearly see something. Excessive handling is just a bad idea during incubation, which really requires a steady, stabile environment for successful hatches. jmho

Jody

 

[urbanhomesteader]

Well I candled again last night and I think I saw a few shadows that were embryos'. I think I will lay off for a while. I don't want to hurt the growing chicks.