Can candling frequently really be that bad of a thing?

[chickintexas]

I'm addicted. Badly. I love to see the daily development of these chicks. I wash my hands thoroughly and candle quickly. But is it that bad of a thing to do? I figure that the hen moves the eggs much more than I do and I am certainly much more sanitary when I do it. What harm, if any, is there, to candle frequently out of plain curiosity? Thanks!

 

[dak]

I asked this exact question not long ago and there were opinions across the board. Some involving medical gloves. My point is, how clean is it under a chicken. Secondly, how often does a broody rearrange her eggs. Hope you can get a more factual answer than I did.

dak

 

[chickintexas]

Quote:
LOL! I figure that there will be all sorts of answers. I can understand using gloves since we could possibly transfer the oils, etc from our hands onto the eggs, in effect, blocking off the porous holes in the eggs. I'm just curious. This is my first time and I take any first time excursion in a scientific pov.

 

[Illia]

Yep, opinions can be scattered. I usually candle, at most, 4 times during the whole process. It wouldn't hurt to candle a lot, just as long as your hands are always very clean or you're wearing gloves. I think everyday candling is dangerous though.

 

[kelseygirl707]

I candle Daily, and don't have very many quitters, maybe one if any every hatch. But I keep a giant bottle of hand sanitizer next to the bators that I use before handling the eggs. I figure for my chicken eggs, they are in an Auto turner, and if they weren't I would be handling them 3 times a day anyway, so once a day shouldn't hurt. For the goose eggs, I always candle when I do the 15 minutes of cooling a day, so that can't hurt. I mean come on, these things in nature are sitting in the dirt under the backside of a bird that has broody poo

. How bad can our washed hands be?

 

[Teresaann24]

I begin candling everyday at day 3 and on till day 18. I use hand sanitize and make sure my hands are free of oil and grease. I never have a problem with my eggs.

 

[chickintexas]

Quote:
OMG! LMBO!!!! I would have to say that your explanation makes so much sense and made me laugh at the same time! I feel so much better about candling more frequently then