Candling and see NOTHING??

[Suburban Sprouts]

This is my first time hatching... I put the eggs in the incubator a week ago. They are half FBCM and half Olive Eggers so I know these are difficult to candle, but tonight I wanted to check them and when I put the light to them, I saw nothing different than before I put them in the incubator... They were shipped eggs, but the temp and humidity have been at recommended levels... Did I not see anything because of the dark shells or because it isn't going well? Anyone with words of encouragement or guidance?

 

[pgpoultry]

Hi, Not easily seen when the eggs are dark, but look for veins, that is something that normally you would be able to see.
There are good pictures on the web of eggs being candled at different stages. Print up a chart and have it by your side when you candle the eggs. I found this very helpful with my first few batches,
Sandie

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

Did you say they have only been in a week?
Most say not to candle till 10 days.
Ive had a hard time seeing in my darker eggs, and they werent even maran eggs.
Give them more time and check again.
Good luck

 

[Fuffy]

They say candling is an art rather than a science!

I am waiting for day 10 before I have a go! (I've never done this before either!)
Good luck, hope they are all ok

 

[FarmGirl01]

I just candled about 30 eggs. All were infertile. Dang Roo.

I candled on day 7 on another group and you can see lots of veins and movement. But with really dark eggs, I would try again. Those shipped eggs are hard to hatch. Good luck and try it in a few days.

 

[ga_goat]

I bought and built candeling things for years and I never saw anything that I could justify tossing an egg out for,, so I quit
trying I just use the calander and let the chips fall where they may . When I used to try it I would mark and seperate the eggs
that I thought would fail and the hatch rate remained the same for the seperated eggs as the rest of the batch .

 

[Marie1234]

Wait for day ten. It may be the shells are too dark for you to see anything. It may be you will never see the veins but you will see the eye ball. It'll look like a dark spot just smaller than a pencil eraser. Unless something is stinking or leaking don't toss it till at least day 24. The chances of having two complete sets of infertile eggs is almost null.

 

[georgialee]

If this is your first time candling it may be hard for you to know what to look for. Your next hatch I would throw in a few light colored eggs if your able - it makes a world of difference when you get the experience instead of just looking at pictures online. That being said, like the others I think you should wait till day 10 to candle again. Good luck!

 

[The Wolf Queen]

IF its too dark to see anything you are probably doin ok. Get the brightest light and darkest room you can find and put the light at the top of the egg where the air cell is so the light is shining on the top of the baby. Then see is veins are visible. If the egg is clear then there is nothing forming/ Hope this helps.

 

[silkiechicken]

The shells are probably too dark for the power of your light. You probably need a higher powered light source if you can't see anything more than the air cell. Give it till day 10 or 14. There is a sticky at the top of this section with pics as reference, but they were bantam brown eggs so light goes though easier.