Candeling Dark Eggs

[jlgoinggreen]

What happens if you can't candle dark eggs at all? I am on day 7 of incubating. I have an LED flashlight and the light just won't go through the eggs at all. I can't see anything except one egg. On that egg it seems like the small side has the air sac. Is that even possible? I thought the air sac was always on the larger/fatter side???

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Can someone please help me with this? What will happen if I can't/don't candle my eggs?

 

[ShadowRooster]

You dont NEED to candle an egg, it will hatch or it will not.

I would just wait.

Good luck!

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Great!

Then nothing will happen to my batch if I don't take out the duds?

 

[Terri O]

Ditto--dont worry about it. Better that they dont get handled too much anyhow!

 

[Illia]

I never have the philosophy of "just let it hatch, don't candle it"


The key is having a bright flashlight. Next is. . .


If it is infertile, it will glow uniformly a dark blood red color.

If it is fertile, move the flashlight or egg around to view different angles. About 90% of the egg should be impenetrable. Black. But, both ends of it should have a slight red glow. You should be able to see the boundary between black and just "dark red"

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

Quote:
but if your not proficient at candling you can toss a good egg, it will not hurt to keep all eggs in the 'bator all through incubation, even those of use who have done it alot can guess wrong, with me if I'm not positive I leave it in

 

[Kavellion]

Some things I have read say that an infertile egg smells different... rotten maybe?

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Quote:
How long before they start to smell? Mine have been in 8 days. I tried candling them last night on day 7 with no luck. I thought I had a bright flashlight. The brightest one in my house at least, but the egg was completely dark.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

the only way infertile eggs smell is if they are rotten, if rotten there needs to be a crack in the shell, or it takes over 4-5 weeks for an egg to go bad even at 100 degrees, not in the time of incubating, think a hen sits for 21 days, if there fertile or not, if they went bad in the 21 days a hen would be full of exploded egg