CANDLING EGGS

[bloonskiller911]

i set eggs on 2/26/12. last night i tried to candle some of them. i have dark shelled eggs so i knew i probably wouldn't see much but i am very discouraged. i have looked on the internet and haven't seen any eggs that look like mine did. they are in an egg turner so i candled from the bottom/small side of the egg. there is a dark mass in the top portion of the egg and clear liquid/space beneath. also, i can't seem to discern where the air sac is. Should i be worried? am i jumping the gun? my wife says i should be patient and wait until they are over 7 days, or even better to wait until at least 14 days, but i don't want any exploding eggs. please give me any thoughts that you may have. if my description of the eggs sounds normal or if i should pitch them and start again.

these are eggs that my hens have laid and a neighbor of mine has hatched chicks out of them already (she set much earlier than me) she did not candle hers so i have no basis to go on.

HELP ME PLEASE!!

 

[Silkie Chick]

First of all,

. We have never used an incubator, but we have had some broody chickens. We supplement our chickens with oyster shells, and have never been able to see through to candle them. Our last hatch we had eight out of nine hatch, and none of them exploded. I would try and candle them in a couple days and see if you can see anything then. This website looks pretty helpful: www.shilala.homestead.com/candling.html

 

[bloonskiller911]

thank you!!!!

 

[Timbertoes]

If you are using a flashlight, move it around the egg. You'll be surprised what you will see! I put half of a toilet paper tube over my small led flashlight-I was then able to fit the egg to the tp tube and block out any light leakage. The air sac will be very apparent from the top and the veins were easiest for me to see if I shined the light just slightly off center of the top (fat end). I have only hatched once but had 11 of 13 hatch.

 

[Timbertoes]

Oh! I had three green eggs that were difficult to see, I just shined the light and waited a couple of minutes for my eyes to adjust.

 

[Italychickens]

You seem like knowledgeable folk.. Our hen (which we think is some sort of Bantam, though not sure, we live in Italy and no one can tell us for sure) was given 5 eggs to hatch from the woman whose flock we got the chickens from. She had been brooding for sometime, but was not laying. She has been sitting on them, or as Italians say, "lei cova le uove", for more than two weeks. We didn't think to mark the eggs.. So of course, three days ago an egg appeared! Then another one! And today a third! So we are up to 8. We are going to try to candle them, though we are completely new to this. We thought that since she is almost at the 21 days, that it would be better to get the extra eggs outta there. Plus, we only wanted a few extra chickens! Any advice for new candlers? Flashlight method? The eggs that she has been sitting on are going on 17 days...

 

[Hannah Jesenko]

Yes I would try to candle them in a few days, somtimes it is hard to see anything the first few days.