Can i candle too much?

I don't know if it hurts the chicks,but I try not candle(not all the time successfully,lol) very often. I don't think it's good to handle the eggs any more than you have to. I just had a broody hen hatch 9 chicks out of 9 eggs. I had her in a cage,by herself ,in a wooden box for a nest. I never candled and really didn't bother her at all except to make sure she had food and water. Apparently hands off worked.
 
I had candled on day three just because of the damage to the other eggs in the shipment. I did find three more eggs that had hairline cracks all through them that I couldn't see until I candled. My first hatch I didn't candle until day seven.

I have to laugh about the baby thing - my first hatch was at school and two of my co-workers are pregnant and we thought the same thing - it would be cool if you could just candle your stomach...
 
this is my first hatch - day 5 and i've candled twice but during the day - going to trying tonight to see what I can see.

I feel so normal now!!!
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I actually candled all of the eggs I have in now prior to putting them in just to check for cracks. I didn't my own eggs that I hatched, but since these were shipped and one was broken I figured better safe than sorry.
 
Ok, I know this thread is really old but I am glad to know I am not the only one out there who candles alot. I am on Day 4 and have candled every night so far...I have 16 eggs of 5 different varieties and my 5 D'Uccles are the only ones I can see really great with my LED light...and I know for sure three of them are starting to vein. This is my first hatch, so I will be happy as pie if I can get ONE chick to hatch.
 
Hi, have hatched naturally before with a mummy chicken but am now trying with a homemade incubator. Got quite far last time but eggs failed. If im honest it was probably my fault couldnt leave them alone! was at them candling and turning. Am on day 6 of new eggies now and am turning three times a day and candling only once, just to check you know! have three girls and am charting progress with them. If im honest as well, i wake up in the morning and think about them, they are quite possibly my guilty pleasure at the moment
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My eggs are all I think about, and talk about, and it's driving my husband nuts. I went out and bought supplies to make a bator and he doesn't know yet, I'm sure he won't be happy when he gets home from work, but I don't really care, lol...
 
I ordered an incubator, and then went and bought a whole mess of chicks...
5 Buff Orpingtons st run
5 Leghorns st run
10 meat birds st run
2 Red pullets
4 EE pullets
4 Pekin ducks st run
and 2 mallards st run

Then I got my incubator and started it up with 10 eggs from my own adult chickens. A leghorn (possibly a mix) A slightly larger than bantam sized barnyard mix, and a Buff Orpington with a Huge White Rock rooster, a small barnyard cockerel, and a white silkie rooster. The white rock is the only one I ever see successfully doing the deed, but I have no idea what might hatch out of these eggs if anything. I set the eggs at 7:04 pm on the 11th. I haven't candled, but I did weigh them before setting and yesterday. All the eggs have lost 2g, except 2 of the smallest eggs. They only lost 1. I hope that means everything is going well. If I were to try candling what are the odds I might see anything?
It's been easy to not agonize over the eggs because I have so much other stuff to keep me busy...which I figure will help me, if I always have chicks to take care of while incubating. So I'm going to try to only incubate when I already have something that gets a lot of my attention...that way I won't be glued to the thing every moment watching and waiting and waiting and watching.
 
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I too am a candelholic! I have my first batch in and we are on day 10, I think I have candled every day since day 3.quickly and gently, just want to make sure everyone is still moving around in there! LOL SO glad I'm not the only one.
 

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