Candling, do I need to do all the eggs?

[tororider]

So I got a more powerful flashlight(Leatherman from Costco for $30) and can see that there are viable embryos in there, so cool! My 3 year old thought it was especially awesome. I have 32 eggs in the incubator, my question is do I need to candle all of them. I have done a handfull and they all seemed to have live embryos wiggling around. Advice will be appreciated.

 

[mangled]

Yep, all of them.

The one you wouldn't candle, if your luck is *anything* like mine, would go rotten and start seeping on day 18 when you're trying to get your humidity up, LOL.

Good luck!
Em

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Yes, I'd candle them all. I usually candle all of mine & then I mark the ones I'm unsure of with a ? and the ones that are clear, I chuck. The others, I keep in there. If you don't candle them all, you'll end up with stinky, sweating eggs or worse, one that will blow up....

 

[tororider]

Just so I am clear on what I am looking for, I can see veins and embryos in some of them. Some seem to be opaque and I can't tell if there is something in there. I am only throwing away the ones that are clear??? Are they going to be stinky now, or can I just put them down the disposer? I am at day 14. Thanks

 

[mangled]

Anything that looks clear at day 14, I would toss. If they have dark blobs in them, or you can see them moving, err on the side of caution and keep them. My husband laughs, but when I candled at day 14, I smelled each egg. I had one that I thought was a little "off", so I wrote a big ? on it, and when I went in on day 18 to remove the turner, it was seeping and smelly. I had him chuck it way out into the woods. Phew.

By day 14, you should see quite a bit of chick in each egg.
Good luck.

Em

edited to add: I missed the disposal thing. I don't know if I'd put them in the disposal. You probably would be okay, but why risk a rotten egg in the disposal? Yuck!

 

[tororider]

Well, of the 33 eggs I started with in the bator, on Day 14, today, 30 of them look as though they are still going. This makes me happy because I thought for sure I would have messed something up by now. Its kind of cool to see the little things wiggling around in there.

 

[Eggseronious]

I candle before they go in the incubator checking for cracks, bacteria, etc.

on day 7,

on day 14, again when I quit turning on day 18.