Yay!! I'm so excited. Only 3 more days until I can take them all out of the turner to candle. Should I expect all the viable eggs to look like the bantam egg in the picture? Should I mark the ones that don't have veins, then candle them again in a few days and throw them out if they still don't have veins?
They should, I actually usually do my first candling at 4 days. But I don't pick up the eggs either. In fact I try not to handle the eggs unless I can't tell and need a better look at an individual egg.
Since you are new to candling, I wouldn't dispose of any egg until you are ready to lock them down at about day 18. The exception would be if an egg smells or leaks (yikes!). Those should be removed immediately.
I usually candle by removing the entire tray of eggs from the cabinet sometime after the sun goes down (that way the whole room is dark). When I was using a genesis, I would just lift the edge of the lid and put my hand inside. Part of my routine is to run my nose along the row of eggs (like a dog doing detection work). If anything smells, then I will pick up individual eggs to make sure I'm getting out any bad ones. I give those an individual sniff and a good look with my light.
For the most part, I just touch the top of each egg with the light and look for veining and movement later on.
On the night of day 17, I pick up each egg to candle them. If an egg is a quitter (blood ring, funny marbled look, small embryo in a discolored egg, etc.) or clear they are disposed of at that point. Then on day 18 in the daylight I can just move all the eggs into cartons, I make a schematic chart of the breeds and then put the carton into my hatcher.
Then I spend three days with my nose pressed to the window every time I walk past, LOL (which is often).
Oh, and a reminder, always thoroughly wash your hands before picking up the eggs, you wouldn't want to transfer anything to the shell (chemicals, lotions, oils from your skin, etc.)
I can't wait until I can take them out to candle on day 7.
It would be so cool if we could ship chicken semen like they do other livestock
