I set 12 guinea egg last friday night. I tried candling them this morning and I am not sure exactly what I am looking for. These eggs were shipped and they are a lightish brown/tan color, some are speckled, so it is hard to see. Some of the air sacs in the eggs seem to float or move toward whatever side of the egg is up... the others seem to stay stationary in the large end of the egg... which is how I thought they were supposed to stay. What does that mean? In a few of them I can see the veins. Some appear to have just a small dark spot, but I can't really see any veins, is it still too early to tell? Thank You!
Sometimes the air cells can be stabilized. At this point if they are floating they probably won't. If it is 7 days you should be seeing the beginnings of a tiny spider web of veins in the eggs. This is life developing. I would wait at least 14 days before tossing any of the eggs. Make sure you are in a pitch dark room with a focused thin beam of light to shine into the eggs. I take a piece of flannel and make a small hole and put it over the head of my flashlight to get a concentrated beam to candle with. Guineas take 28 days but mine hatched earlier.
Miss Prissy, I now have duck eggs that just arrived in the mail today. Some of them have floating air cells. You mentioned that they might be abe to be stabilized.. how do you do that?? Thanks!
If you mean little bubbles that follow you around, those are ruined. If the air cell appears to be just a little loose but stays at the large end, those can still develop. Sometimes with guinea eggs you will see a more defined air cell in the developing eggs before you can actually see the embryo. Also you will notice the yolk will take on an odd shape, not just a round blob in the middle. All these signs usually means development.