Candling eggs: are they good or not?

[Sphinx]

All right, last time trying (for today) because 1- my hen is getting pretty annoyed with me, 2- my kids have done a fair job of destroying the house while I obsess and 3- I'm getting sick of feeling like an incompetent idiot. Despite my silly user name, I'm actually pretty smart most of the time, but I feel so incredibly stupid about now! Thanks so much for being patient with me.


One more shot of the white egg. This looks pretty hopeful, doesn't it?

 

[DixieChickie]

We all began somewhere too. And there has been a time or two that I saw better candling the pointy end. I think that one does look hopeful. Did you see any veins or movement?

 

[Arielle]

I've spent a bit of time candling my eggs too. I'm frustrated that the view of my eggs doesn't match any picture I've seen! Are my eggs bad, or is it my lack of experience, whatever it is , it is still frustrating. I have resigned myself to this: I know when I put them in the incubator, and if they don't hatch by a few days after they are supposed to I'll crack them open and have a look.

 

[Arielle]

sorry, double post

 

[Sphinx]

See, mine are under a broody hen, so I have to hike all the way to the chicken coop (uphill both ways, 5 miles, in snow), ruffle her feathers, hike all the way back, and then candle it. Then go alllll the way back, get the hen mad at me again when I go to put the egg back. Then go allll the way back to the house.

I'm seriously considering an incubator for any future hatches.

Then again, the only reason I'm doing this is the hen went broody and I thought it would be a fun experiment.

This is worse than when I was trying to conceive a baby!

 

[cmom]

They look good to me.

 

[snaphu]

Quote:
I get soooo paranoid and neurotic handling incubated eggs!

... while incubating the small end of the egg is down, right?... so then to candle them, we turn them upside down??? I got to apologize for what is probably a stupid question, but, I just don't want to damage or hurt the embryo

Sue

 

[Sphinx]

Since this thread was bumped, thought id update. Unfortunately, none of the eggs hatched. :-( I wasn't sure if they were fertile, given how little time the cockerel had spent with the hens.

A funny aside though, I went out of town for a week and a sneaky hen got her egg in the mix. Incandled it and it's got a living, moving chick in there!