Broody hatching

[song of joy]

9 eggs should be fine. Glad to hear that she made the move so well. She sounds very dedicated!

To candle eggs, you can use a bright flashlight. Hold the egg with the fat end up (this is where the air cell is), and shine it into the egg, trying not to let light leak out around the edges of the flashlight. Do this in a completely dark room.

Some people never candle eggs that are put under a broody hen and some people candle them a lot. I only candle on day 10 of incubation when using a broody hen. At that mid-point of incubation, I'm looking for signs of development (blood vessels, chick movement). I remove any clear/infertile eggs and any eggs showing blood rings at that point. Check out the learning center articles on incubation, as they provide guidance on candling as well.

Assuming the eggs are all fertile, the hatch rate can be very high using a broody hen. I often get 100% hatch rates using broody hens. (hatch rate = % of fertile eggs that hatch)

 

[Hope Hughes]

Can someone explain how to candle and egg.

This post may help a little bit or you could also go to youtube and search how to candle chicken eggs.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/article-on-candling-eggs.1156701/#post-18149361

 

[red horse ranch]

A small bright LED flashlight will work really well. Go to her nest after dark and take out an egg. Place the flashlight against the large end of the egg. You should be able to see the air cell and a dark spot developing next to the yolk when the eggs have been incubated at least 7 days. Do it again on day 14 and remove any eggs that look clear. By day 14 the egg will have a large dark mass and you will probably see the chick moving around if it's alive. Work quickly but carefully to avoid the egg getting chilled or juggled around too much.

 

[Ridgerunner]

From the Learning Center in the Articles section.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...ndler-using-common-household-materials.47700/

For what it's worth I never candle eggs under a broody hen. You can if you wish but you don't HAVE to. It will not affect which ones hatch.

 

[Hope Hughes]

The amount is fine... I had a bantam hatch 10 out and did great. Not all 9 of them may completely develop, but again they could all hatch fine. Just have to candle them throughout the incubation period to keep an eye on them.

I want to fix my post I didn't mean that you HAVE To candle them. Everyone does things differently. You can choose to candle or not to or do it once at day 14 or how many times you want. With me it helps to make sure that there isn't a bad one under there and that the babies are growing properly. And I do it differently every hatch we have. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[red horse ranch]

I agree that the eggs don't HAVE to be candled under a broody hen. But my curiosity gets the best of me and I have to know if she actually has babies developing. I don't want her to waste her time sitting on eggs that aren't even fertile.

 

[uptown hens]

Checked her just now. I'm so excited. So far four little peeps have hatched this morning. 5 more eggs under her. I had calculated tomorrow but looked in on her just now and today is the day. I wish I could post a photo. So cute.