when to candle?

[cadman68]

I candle after about 6 or 7 days and usually can tell by that time whether i have a good egg or not, but i do not toss any eggs until after day 10. By then you should be able to tell with little or no doubt whether you have good eggs. After day 7 i candle about every other day sometimes i go 2 or 3 days without doing it. The main reason i candle is to get rid of the bad eggs so that i don't end up with a mess in the bator, and it is kinda cool to see the little guys moving inside the egg. I use a large mag-lite and it works great.

 

[spencereb]

Tell more on candling.

This is my first incubator.

I have a doz chix & a doz duck eggs.

I do the "x" and "O", turn morning and night.

I have the accurite therm/hygrometer and small fan circulator.

My temps swing from 99 - 101.

Humidity in 30, 40 & 50's. So, when I candle, some air cells are apparent, others, I can't tell.

One duck egg i see what I believe to be vessels forming.

However, a disturbing difference: on some eggs, the dark yolk shadow seems to "fall" or "drift" inside as I turn the egg.

On other eggs the dark shadow seems affixed to the inner shell and doesn't seem to move. So what does this sound like to experienced candlers?

Thanks, Spence

 

[TheBigWRanch]

I've heard that most people like to turn their eggs an odd # of times a day, like three times or five.

 

[Southern Chickens]

Can you really hurt them?

Quote:

 

[SkeeredChicken]

I seemed to be rough during the times I candled my eggs. I circled them around and slowly shifted them counter/clockwise to see if the embryo would respond. But it wouldn't hurt the eggs to be alot more gentle than I was.

My chicks still hatch, but I think next time I'm just gonna take shadows inside as positive development, even if I dont see movement, next time. If you dont see move ment at first, leave it in for a few more days. Recandle, and take note if there is anymore development or not.

 

[cornishman]

i always used candle at 10 days...if fertile most eggs you can see a dark "dot"...i have an egg candler that i bought at the feed store...works better than a flashlight...an old man that hatched an army of chicks every year told me that he candles at 18 days...he said if you candle too early you could miss some eggs that would have hatched...after seeing his results i will be doing it this way also...so you only need to candle your eggs once...at 18 days...throw out the "clear" eggs and after the 18th day you don't have to turn them anymore...cornishman.

 

[Southern Chickens]

This is day 5

This is day 10

My incubator/ The Fry-bator

Can you see the chick on the left side of the egg? The shadow is it's body.

Day 14, see the blood vessels? Same egg as above, just turned a little.

 

[cornishman]

very good pics! nice job! cornishman.

 

[urbanhomesteader]

Well its day 14. I candled today. Definitly can see the difference from the candleing I did on day 7. It lookes like all 12 Maran eggs have embryo's growing.

I could clearly see the air cell and most of the egg is dark like something big is in there. In the three lightest eggs I even saw some movement.

7 more days to go.