Candling advice/hmmade candlers & I'm a nervous wreck!!

[arlee453]

Ok, it's day 6 on my silkie eggs in the rubbermaid cooler-a-bator.

I've watched this thing non stop it seems - if it's not the humidity, it's the temps, always worrying if it is OK!

I keep telling myself that if eggs hatch out from under a chicken that gets off the nest at least once per day to eat, etc, and is constantly rolling them around, etc that this bator thing SHOULD work... still it's nerve wracking!

Now for my question - when should I candle the first time? I'm finding some say 7 days, some at 10 days.

Also, anyone have a good idea for a homemade candler? I've see a few from searching, but nothing that I've got stuff to make here...

I am approaching the candling thing with tremendous trepidation - what if NONE of them are viable... what if ALL of them are viable....

OK, venting is over for tonight... TIA for any tips!

 

[Youngfamily1989]

I have been candleing through the whole process. I candled at 7 and at 10, 14, last 19. My son and I work as a team at day 7 he will get an egg; close the lid and I candle it and then he will write good or bad on it and then we seperate the good from the bad. Then at day 10 I will candle again to make sure they are progressing, thats when we disgard the bad ones. At day 10 you can easly tell the difference from good and bad. At day 19 I'm trying to see the air cell I couldn't see one the last time so I posted about it I was told not to worry about it that you really have to know what your looking for to see it. Good luck...but I don't see that it hurts to candle all through the process, this way you can watch them develope.

Brian

 

[TerrasCritters]

I candle with a small LED flashlight.

I put the egg in the palm of my hand and place the flashlight under with the big end in my fingers like a circle so that they are holding the egg and also keeping light from shining out around.

It is been said its best to not open the incubator as much as possable, but then it has also been said that it is good to let eggs cool for a couple minutes like the hens would do.

I try to only mess with the eggs once a week to check progress and take out eggs that have gone bad. The first week may be difficult to see.

You are looking for healthy spider veins. If there is a clear egg the first week leave it, you may just not beable to see very well some shells are darker then others or have a light dark pattern on them that make it hard to tell also, unless you have one of those FANCY expencive candlers....

If the egg has a blood ring around it on the inside when candling it started to develope but died.

Best of luck

 

[arlee453]

I may just wait until later in the week - more like day 10. I already have too many things to be nervous about - whether or not I'm seeing the veining or not might just put me over the edge!

How do you guys do this all the time????

 

[speckledhen]

Got an old slide projector? Makes a fantastic candler. I turn mine so the light is shining upward then put a "donut" made of a twisted washcloth on the lens to sit the egg on.

 

[birdnutz]

I use a metal coffee can with a 40 watt bulb inside it. Mount the light inside and cut a viewing hole in the bottom. Works for everything except extremely dark eggs.
The slide projector is a great idea. Never thought of that one.Learn something new every day.

 

[jdypat]

nothing to be nervous about.. 8 year old grandson took an egg to his city home and held it between his legs for the trip. he put it in a coffee can wrapped in toilet paper and pointed a desk lamp at it and guess what? it hatched.. a healthy beautiful ee chicken. go figure?

 

[arlee453]

Well, I tried the high intensity mini flashlight idea....

and......


I SEE BABY CHICKS IN THERE!!

I just candled a few of them - I found one that was completely clear.

A couple were a bit hard to see as the room wasn't 100% dark, but they had at least blobs in there - not clear.

A few had not clear veining, but I could see a very dark, small spot - about the size of a mini chocolate chip - in the darker area of the egg. Is that good?

And.... a in at least 3 of them - definate veining!!

 

[TerrasCritters]

Yeayyyyyy!!
Congrats for getting them this far!
Try not to mess with them again for another week or so.

 

[arlee453]

OK... took another look with my flashlight - just turned off all the lights in the room so it's good and dark, and then put the flashlight up to the eggs directly without picking them up.

I've got a mini mag light that fits perfectly on the eggs without my having to push or anything, and blocks out the light pretty good.

I only found ONE that was completely clear - at least all the other had SOMETHING in there.

Now, here's the question for the day. In one of the eggs, I swear the dark blob was moving on it's own. I wasn't moving the egg at all. Is is possible that I actually saw movement this early or am I just going crazy??!!??

OK, now I sit on my hands for at least until the end of the week....