can you tell if this egg was fertile?

[crysmom]

this is a photo of an egg I have been incubating for 4 days. I candled a few of the thirty eggs I"m trying to hatch, just to see if I could see anything (I know I should have waited) all three of the white ones looked totally clear and the two I candled from the dark hens have a shadow but I can't really see anything it just looks shadowy (which isn't a word but whatever)

so I have a sneaking suspicion that the white ones aren't developing for some reason so I cracked one open and it looks like that

its hard for me to tell in person if it was fertile and I"m not sure anyone will be able to make it out in the photo but it definately didn't develop at all now i'm pretty bummed out

 

[Tuffoldhen]

My opinion it was to soon to tell, but it does look fertile..it could have just died off at that stage.... 7 days would let you know for sure...at 7 days when you candle you should see veins coming from the center yolk....the "shadowy" would be your yolks.....

 

[hinkjc]

That egg looks infertile to me.

Jody

 

[speckledhen]

At four days, you would see a "vein island" and even a tiny heart beating on the yolk. I regularly incubate to four days and then crack them open to check fertility. It looks like perhaps it was fertile and the embryo died off right away, but I'm not even sure about that. There would be at least a few veins. On second thought, I think Jody's right, probably not fertile at all.

 

[homecatmom]

I have been watching all the fertile/infertile posts and would have said fertile..

Are you saying infertile Hinkjc and speckledhen because there is only one ring around the dot and not at least two? Now I'm confused about the bullseye completely.

 

[crysmom]

thanks I have a sneaking suspicion that I won't be getting any white hens the white ones I checked all look clear they don't even have a yolk shadow like the brown ones

I put them back in because I think its too early for inexperienced me to confirm whether anything is going on in there or not but I'll leave them alone until friday and look at them again

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! If I saw that with a cracked egg here, I'd say definitely 'not fertile' --- with a pic there may be something I'm not seeing.
HCM, you should see a *distinct* ring around the blastodisc thingy if it is fertile.
And if it had been developing (oh, ookgrossyuck), you'd see the beginning of an embryo with veins and such (shudder).

Lisa

 

[speckledhen]

There isn't an actual ring around the white spot, just a shadow, homecatmom. The ring would be white as well and distinct.

 

[homecatmom]

Ok, it's starting to make sense. I will keep looking at the pictures and guessing before reading the post and see if my score improves. Thanks everyone.

 

[speckledhen]

Before my rooster began getting around to fertilizing any of my girls (took my boy 5 months and he was already 10 months old when I got him!), I couldnt figure it out myself-partly because I just didn't believe it would take him that long to get it right, LOL. When I finally saw a fertile egg for real, then the lightbulb went off. You'll never forget once you see one in person.