Candling dark maran eggs

[Cluck0FF]

Hi I received some mail order maran eggs and white leghorn. They're on day 9 along with some of my own eggs. My own eggs are pale white eggs showing good veins and can see the embryo.

The other white mail order leghorn eggs are very pigmented and hard to see. The air cells are growing well though. As for the maran eggs they're very dark and impossible to candle. Using a plugin led candle

Any tips please on a method to determine any which are no viable to stay in the incubator please? Do I just wait because I want no egg explosions

 

[barbuduccle]

Some people seem to be able to use very bright lights and see a little detail. I recently incubated 6 mail order Maran eggs. The lightest of them I could just about see into but not in the others as they were very dark. I water candled the eggs about day 18/19 I think and saw movement in one egg which correlated with the only live chick I got. Of the unsuccessful eggs when I cracked them open 2 had nearly completely formed chicks inside. Don't know what killed them at such a late stage but the water candling appeared accurate in my small test.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sniff the eggs. If you get a rotten egg smell, toss it. If it smell OK put it back and continue incubating.

No one wants an egg explosion. Most bad eggs don't explode anyway, they seep a very foul smelling fluid. You don't want that either. If the bloom is intact and you did not incubate fairly dirty eggs it's unlikely an egg will go bad anyway.

Whether the egg is developing or not has nothing to do with it going bad. It goes bad if bacteria enter inside and starts multiplying. If the egg is not developing the bacteria multiplies and it goes bad. If the egg is developing the bacteria multiplies, kills the embryo, and goes bad. Candling will not tell you that. Sniffing it will.

 

[Cluck0FF]

Thanks for both responses. I'll use my nose to check them.

As for determining quitters I might just leave them all in until lockdown where I'll do a water float test on the ones I can't see

I'll try post some photos later, maybe someone else will have a better idea.

Thanks

 

[Cluck0FF]

The same white leghorn egg from several angles at day 10. I pencilled the air sac at day 7.

 

[Cluck0FF]

Bump

Anyone please comment on the above candling photos?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hi, just fell over your post when looking for info on dark eggs, Your egg photos above appear to be an early quitter. I know this was 5 days so, any changes?

 

[Cluck0FF]

Thanks yeah it looks like a saddle shaped air cell due to shipping damage. Somethings gone wrong as all 6 of my locally obtained eggs were developing until the 2 week mark, then 4 of them got a blood ring... Maybe bacteria? Thanks

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Thanks yeah it looks like a saddle shaped air cell due to shipping damage. Somethings gone wrong as all 6 of my locally obtained eggs were developing until the 2 week mark, then 4 of them got a blood ring... Maybe bacteria? Thanks

Yeah, shipped eggs often are saddled, depending on how well they were packed and how the post office treated them. Part of the reason for the lower hatch rate usually. I am currently incubating 3 sets of shipped eggs. In one set almost all 12 were saddled badly, though 5 of them are still going at day 15. Another set, only 3 were slightly saddled out of 15 and 2 of the three managed to straighten themselves out. The last one is hatching upright in a carton. The difference between the different shipments as far as I could tell was the packaging.
I am using the magicfly candler on the dark Marans eggs with good results, though I could not see anything at all until they were around 9-10 days along. Was able to see see veining and the air cell really well. It did require that I step inside the closet where it was very dark!
Anyway, hope you have a good hatch!

 

[Cluck0FF]

Yeah, shipped eggs often are saddled, depending on how well they were packed and how the post office treated them. Part of the reason for the lower hatch rate usually. I am currently incubating 3 sets of shipped eggs. In one set almost all 12 were saddled badly, though 5 of them are still going at day 15. Another set, only 3 were slightly saddled out of 15 and 2 of the three managed to straighten themselves out. The last one is hatching upright in a carton. The difference between the different shipments as far as I could tell was the packaging.
I am using the magicfly candler on the dark Marans eggs with good results, though I could not see anything at all until they were around 9-10 days along. Was able to see see veining and the air cell really well. It did require that I step inside the closet where it was very dark!
Anyway, hope you have a good hatch!

Thank you for taking the time to write that. One of the eggs was oozing very slightly overnight which i believe may have ruined the hatch. Fingers crossed the remaining 2 out of 17 eggs survive!