My eggs have been in the incubator for 4 days now. I decided I would try and candle some of them to see if I could see any veins yet. (I am candling Blue Orps. and Delaware eggs.) I am holding the egg in my hand with the pointy side down and shining the light up from the bottom (pointy end) of the egg. I candled three different eggs. The first one all I could see was a bunch of dots with a shadow of something dark towards the top of the egg and the other two I could only see something dark towards the top of the egg. Is this normal or am I doing this all wrong? I will cry if all 42 of these eggs are bad.
Four days is pretty early to see much...especially if you haven't candled much. I've been doing it a long time and wait until at least day 7...sometimes even day 10. Any earlier and you really don't want to be handling the eggs that much anyway...the embryos are pretty delicate during the first week.
An easier way to see in the egg is to shine the light into the round end of the egg where the air sac is. You see a lot more.
Practice on a few eggs that you are planning to eat! Try from different angles, look for the air cell, look for cracks or blood spots etc.... once you have looked into a few at least - when you candle your eggs at around a week - you will see RIGHT away what you should be looking for....
Stacy, you've got it bad. lol I saw your post and thought she just got those eggs Friday it's too early. Between days 7 and 10 you'll be able to see the veins and embryos easily. I use a terracotta flower pot upside down over a lamp, flaslight or whatever I have that's bright and handy. Candle with the large end to the light.
Not a good idea to put the egg upside down (large end down) as you risk the chance of tangling up the vein structure that is growing inside which in turn will kill the embryo. You are better off candling from the side, like this, rather than on top or bottom. Just hold the large end of the egg up to a light coming from the side. For more info on candling, go to: http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Embryology/candling.shtml