amatuer question

[bibliophile birds]

my little Silkie is brooding some eggs for the first time (her's and mine). we're at day 17 and i'm having a really tough time with this whole candling thing. i think most of my problem is not having the right light, but i also seem to have dark, hard shells to deal with. i've been attempting to candle them every couple of days but i'm not really seeing anything. i've looked at silkiechicken's candling pictures but i'm still unsure. tonight when i tried a newer, higher powered light, i could see a shadow that looked quite like an embryo in one of the eggs, but it seemed much smaller than i would have expected. i could see the air sack in the others, but they were mostly a big dark blob. i know that they should look kind of like a big dark blob at this point either way, but i'm nervous and terrified that they are all bad and going to explode under my hen.

advice? hints? is there an easy way to know whether these are duds?

thanks for your help.

 

[paddock36]

If you are already at day 17 then my advise is to just leave her alone. You only have a few more days before they should start hatching anyway. What will be, will be. Just be patient.

 

[Doc Henry]

At day 17 you can't see much but if you put your light on the air sack end and watch close sometimes you'll see movement. I just use strong led flashlights my favorite is a surefire weaponlight its about as bright as the sun you can easily candle maran eggs just don't accidentally point it in your eyes then you can't see anything. Candle at 10 days then you see all the veining and thats a good sign that all is well.

 

[bibliophile birds]

well, the hatch started today, right on time! so far the green egg has hatched (so EE mom and it looks like maybe Orp dad) and one of the silkie eggs!!! i'm so excited the silkie egg hatched since they were in the fridge for 2 days before being sat on! i'm so proud of my little Gretel!

5 more possibly to go. but if no more hatch, i'm still happy!