1st incubation

[aart]

With dark eggs you'll be lucky to see anything, so don't be too disappointed...
...might be able to see veins near the aircell on day 7.

Bright flashlight in a dark room, the darker the better.
I have a windowless lavatory 10 feet from the bator, sure makes it easier.

 

[oregonkat]

I hatch Black Copper Marans eggs often and the only thing that you can monitor with candling these babies is the air cell. However, the air cell and it's progress lets you know whether or not things are as they should be. The eggs are very difficult to see into. That being said, there are some extremely bright military flashlights available that might allow you to see better but they can be spendy. Anyway, hold off on messing with the eggs too much, believe me I know how difficult this is especially as it's your first time. Day 7 candle, day 14 candle, and then again before lock down if you want to . Oh, and remember to mark your air cells as you candle, it really helps to monitor how the babies are progressing and where they will likely pip so you can put the eggs the right way up for hatch!

Super exciting time. I am getting ready to incubate tomorrow, my next batch of BCM eggs, Cream Legbars, and Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, soooo excited!!

Let us know what incubator you are using, still or forced air, turner or no turner. What your temps and humidity are and remember there are a whole lot of folks on here with huge amounts of expertise to help you. Good luck with your hatch.

 

[aart]

Oh, and remember to mark your air cells as you candle, it really helps to monitor how the babies are progressing and where they will likely pip so you can put the eggs the right way up for hatch!

This really only monitors the amount of moisture the egg is losing,
so you can adjust your humidity.
I think even a non-developing egg will lose moisture to evaporation, not totally sure tho.

 

[oregonkat]

This really only monitors the amount of moisture the egg is losing,
so you can adjust your humidity.
I think even a non-developing egg will lose moisture to evaporation, not totally sure tho.

If I understand this correctly, you are right to a certain extent, but I read an article on this and I will try to find it, that a developing embryo (in an ideal environment) increases the internal temperature of the egg and causes the egg to lose more moisture. In measuring the weight of my eggs in my last hatch, BCM eggs, I noticed that the developing embryos on day 10 had an air cell that was reflective of that progress as well as the reduction in weight approx 5 - 6%, the infertile eggs that I had (4 of them) had significantly less weight loss and an air cell that was still only just bigger than when I put them in. Now, this does not reflect the progression of quitters which will, of course, show signs of air cell development up till the time they die. This is all just my very rudimentary study so I may be completely wrong.

 

[merc]

since they are so dark and traditional candling doesn't really tell you much maybe just wait it out and do the water candling test the day after your scheduled hatch day? i know this answer totally sucks.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/water-candling.966706/

i candled every other day on my first hatch (local) because i was so incredibly excited for the chicks to arrive, all dark eggs so i saw nothing but kept candling anyway and had a 60% hatch rate. i did the same thing for my 2nd hatch (shipped) and i don't know how many i lost due to my candling overzealousness vs infertile vs roller-coaster shipping trip, but had a 0% hatch rate. now with a little experience under my belt, i def think x1 per week (after first untouched week of incubation) is the way to go in order to avoid scrambling the eggs even further if they were shipped.

 

[aart]

that a developing embryo (in an ideal environment) increases the internal temperature of the egg and causes the egg to lose more moisture.

That makes sense.