Air cell question--candling before setting

[FenDruadin]

Should I be able to see much in terms of air cell before setting the eggs? These are very small, white bantam chicken eggs. In two of them, I see what is obviously the air cell. In the other three, there is a dark spot where the air cell would be, but nothing very well defined. Is this bad?

 

[jthayerkatz]

Wgat day are you on? It is possible that the chick is already broken through the air cell in prep for hatching. Set them and keep track of the ones that you cannot see the air cell, those may be the first to hatch.

 

[FenDruadin]

Thank you! But actually--I'm on Day 0--I haven't set the eggs yet. I know you can't tell much from candling before setting, but I can see an air cell in some of the eggs, but not in the others. Does that mean anything? They were found on our property, laid by a neighbor's hen, probably ranging from one day to a week old. They were found by the children, who then proceeded to carry them around a bit before asking if I would incubate (okay, so I sort of nudged them--a teeny bit--in that direction...), so is it possible they got "scrambled"? Would I even be able to tell at this point? I don't think they were rough with them at all, but they are kids after all.

Thanks!

Oh, and I noticed the visible air cells are in the two larger eggs--the three smaller eggs do not have visible air cells.

Thanks for any help!!

 

[jthayerkatz]

If they have not been set yet then they may have gotten damaged internaly before you got them. If you do set them check every few days to see that the air cell is growing. the egg should evaporate some of its fluid during the incubation period and if there is no air cell the chick may grow into the full interior of the egg and then not have room to hatch when the time comes. If you set them just watch for the air cell and hope for the best if they do develop you may have to assist during the hatch. Good luck

 

[KDbeads]

I didn't see air cells on mine when I set them, though they were visible on day 7. I had shipped eggs and eggs from home and they both looked the same. Don't toss them yet

 

[FenDruadin]

Thanks guys! That is good to know. I'm glad to hear that not seeing the air cell doesn't mean they're bad. I can see the yolk in all of them, and now that it's dark out (so I can see more clearly), I think I do see VERY TINY air cells in the three. Makes me wonder if the other two are older, or maybe the air cell is larger because the eggs are larger?

Anyway, glad to know there's probably nothing wrong with them.

 

[jenjscott]

On my really fresh eggs, sometimes its hard to see the air cell.

 

[Katy]

Very fresh eggs have basically no air cell....the ones you can see the bigger air cell in are older eggs.

 

[FenDruadin]

That totally makes sense. Well, good--I'd rather have three very fresh and two slightly older eggs, than two good eggs and three scrambled.

I'm very excited about these eggs--I don't know why, but I'm more worried about them than I was about duck eggs--maybe because I know I can't easily replace them. And they are so CUTE. So tiny!

Thanks for all the input!