Are they dead or just growing??

Chickadee93

In the Brooder
10 Years
Mar 1, 2009
93
1
41
PA
So, had an almost 24 hr power outage on Mon/Tues but I managed to keep the eggs at about 95-98 degrees, candled a few of the eggs after it was over and it looked like they were alright, but now I can't see anything...dunno if the flashlight isn't powerful enough or if they are dead. The eggs are all dark, but it doesn't look like there's a blood ring or anything, today would be day 10 of incubation, are they just growing? Or should I start over?
 
I would think its the flashlight because even if they are dead or growing, you should be able to see something at day 10. If you are on day 18 or so that's a different story. I wouldn't give up yet. I found the best candling light is the flashlight on my phone. It will candle my dark olive eggers with no problem. That's after buying about 6 flashlights.
 
I'd keep going and not do anything drastic. If you kept them at those temperatures, they are probably fine.

Try candling in a few days with a better flashlight in a totally dark room. I suspect it is more your candling technique or equipment than anything wrong with the eggs.
 
Wait and see?
smile.png
 
Last edited:
Well 3 batteries later I realized the flashlight was dimmer than I thought, two eggs definitely were dead (very visible blood rings) and a few were like this, I dunno what it means. I can't see any rings or veins just that dark blob with the very visible clear stuff on one side.




The good news is there are definitely 4 good eggs in the bunch!
Today would be day 11...so pretty much halfway there
 
Can't really see what's going on in that pix. Here's a helpful hint for you. I can see that you have the idea of forming a ring with your thumb and finger to direct the light into the egg rather than your eyes. Now hold the egg so the light enters the big (air cell) end first and you should have a much better look inside.
By day 10 you should have veins visible if they are developing. A live egg should have an overall reddish cast. An infertile or "clear" egg often will almost glow yellow like a Christmas bulb.
 
Can't really see what's going on in that pix. Here's a helpful hint for you. I can see that you have the idea of forming a ring with your thumb and finger to direct the light into the egg rather than your eyes. Now hold the egg so the light enters the big (air cell) end first and you should have a much better look inside.
By day 10 you should have veins visible if they are developing. A live egg should have an overall reddish cast. An infertile or "clear" egg often will almost glow yellow like a Christmas bulb.
I'll try that tonight! All of them have that reddish cast, but the half & half ones have the red over the dark part, then the clear. So something was developing I just don't know if they are still alive in those eggs..

Edit: However I was just able to find another 'bad' one. a lot of the half/half ones have veins in them but they look 'fuzzy' dunno if its my flashlight or if they are deteriorating. They look healthy tho just a bit blurred
 
Last edited:

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom