August Hatch-A-Long

[dougieee]

I bought a high intensity candler made for dark eggs from amazon. The candler on my incubator was great for light eggs and I could see the air cells in the dark eggs last time but I am going to set 6 blue/black Maran eggs next week as well as 6 cream leg bars. I changed my mind about the auracana eggs because I had made a stupid eBay click mistake out of excitement then did the research. Aurancanas are very difficult to,hatch and if I did they'd be most likely to run away as they need large areas to roam. I do have a large garden but not acres. I've asked to cancel, otherwise I'm going to have to make the fanciest egg dish ever to make it worth the money for the eggs and postage

I just bought a good quality LED torch with high lumens then used black foam to create a soft ring around the top, it works better than most candlers

 

[Compost King]

The first 10 days is so boring... after 10 days it goes fast as you can candle and see the progress. Anyways I thought I would whine in here about how boring the first 10 days were to see if it makes time go faster.

 

[Compost King]

I just bought a good quality LED torch with high lumens then used black foam to create a soft ring around the top, it works better than most candlers

My first candler was so bad that it only worked on white eggs. I upgraded and got a better one but sounds like I need to do what you are doing to really get a good look inside.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

The first 10 days is so boring... after 10 days it goes fast as you can candle and see the progress. Anyways I thought I would whine in here about how boring the first 10 days were to see if it makes time go faster.

I feel your pain! I was just thinking I could try candling tonight but realistically I probably won't be able to tell of they're fertilized yet because I have Marans eggs in the bator. Lol

 

[CluckNDoodle]

My first candler was so bad that it only worked on white eggs. I upgraded and got a better one but sounds like I need to do what you are doing to really get a good look inside.

I love my little high lumen flashlight as well. I just cup mine with my hand but maybe I'll get some foam too!

 

[Compost King]

I haven't done this because I haven't gotten too much into the candling craze but if I were to have the best candling device I would get a high powered work light and put it in a box, then cut a hole in the box to place an egg, maybe a few holes because I have different size eggs... cover the holes not in use and then plop an egg down in that whole and look at it.
Why I haven't done this is because I don't need it, I just need to see if I have blood vessels forming. If I was running a business that required 100% hatch rates or close to it I might invest some time into perfect candling and perfect egg selection.

 

[dougieee]

I haven't done this because I haven't gotten too much into the candling craze but if I were to have the best candling device I would get a high powered work light and put it in a box, then cut a hole in the box to place an egg, maybe a few holes because I have different size eggs... cover the holes not in use and then plop an egg down in that whole and look at it.
Why I haven't done this is because I don't need it, I just need to see if I have blood vessels forming. If I was running a business that required 100% hatch rates or close to it I might invest some time into perfect candling and perfect egg selection.

I candle for the experience.
I candle every other day till lockdown,, i find it interesting, if you set pale eggs you really can see development when its dark, candling has taught me to spot yolkers and quitters quite early now.
Plus, if i hadnt candled the shipped eggs i bought i wouldnt have known the aircells were all detached and would have set them on their side instead of upright, had i not kept an eye on them i wouldnt have got near the 70% hatch rate i did get

 

[Compost King]

I candle for the experience.
I candle every other day till lockdown,, i find it interesting, if you set pale eggs you really can see development when its dark, candling has taught me to spot yolkers and quitters quite early now.
Plus, if i hadnt candled the shipped eggs i bought i wouldnt have known the aircells were all detached and would have set them on their side instead of upright, had i not kept an eye on them i wouldnt have got near the 70% hatch rate i did get

I was candling twice a day to get a feel for it, see if I can pick up an eye for seeing as much details as I can. Then one slipped out of my hands and not only cracked but cracked 2 eggs below it. I felt like a Chicken murderer and now I limit to my candling to specific days marked on my calendar. However if I ever run into a situation where hatching success is important to my goals I will go back to candling every egg twice a day and seeing every detail possible.

 

[BlueBaby]

I was candling twice a day to get a feel for it, see if I can pick up an eye for seeing as much details as I can. Then one slipped out of my hands and not only cracked but cracked 2 eggs below it. I felt like a Chicken murderer and now I limit to my candling to specific days marked on my calendar. However if I ever run into a situation where hatching success is important to my goals I will go back to candling every egg twice a day and seeing every detail possible.

I just candle every few day's or so to see if they are still progressing or not, but I don't have the darker colored egg's like the Maran's lay.

 

[Compost King]

I just candle every few day's or so to see if they are still progressing or not, but I don't have the darker colored egg's like the Maran's lay.

Dark eggs are over rated in my opinion. Although I do have welsumers because I love the breed regardless of egg color and I have 3 Penedesencas That I just selected to fill an order out to 25 from Welp. It seems the darker the egg the longer it takes for a chicken to mature to POL. When I was breeding for darker eggs the eggs became progressively smaller down the line. Not saying that will always happen to everyone but it lead me to breeding for qualities that are so much more important.