Candling confusion

[elmo]

I have a very small bantam Serama/OEGB hen sitting on six eggs since last Sunday. When she was off the nest today, I candled the eggs with a homemade candler I made out of a box with a hole cut in it and a CFL rigged up inside. I saw a dark blobby shape inside each egg, but the shape was much larger than I was expecting. I didn't see any veining, but then the eggs are so tiny and I was working quickly ...I only looked for a few seconds at each.

I compared what I saw with various candling pictures here and on the internet, and what I saw looks sort of like pictures of developing eggs, but farther along in the incubation process than what I would expect to see from my hen's eggs. I know she did not start to sit the eggs continuously before last Sunday night (that was her first night on them).

I put the eggs back under my hen, but I really have no idea what I saw, other than the fact that none of them was clear.

Aaargh.

 

[Marie1234]

If none were clear you have development. Sometimes it is just really hard to see anything. You can always try again at about ten days and get a better idea, but as long as nothing is weeping or smells really bad you should be well on your way to chicks. Congratulations!

 

[elmo]

Thanks for the encouragement! We had to rehome our little roo last week, so we knew it was "now or never" for hatching out our own eggs.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Maybe the flash light wasn't bright enough to show the veining. I use a 100 watt bulb under my box.