Candling help

[Tilly]

Hi
Last week I found my bantam hen sitting on 14 eggs!! (no no planned she stashed them

I attempted candling for the first time. 3 of the eggs were clear so I chucked them. The other 11 had a dark area which was about a 1/4 - 1/3 of the egg. The dark area wasnt attached to the shell it moved around if I gently turned the egg. Does this mean the other 11 are fertile?
They are still under mum. if they are fertile how far along would that be for size.

Thanks

 

[SGM]

Sounds really good to me! Congrats on the soon-to-bes.

 

[needmorechickens!]

Sounds like there are chicks in there and I would guess (take this with a grain of salt) that they are about 12 days old?
Good luck with the hatch!

~Rebecca

 

[Tilly]

Thanks for the replies !!
I couldnt help myself and just recandled them. (first attempt was 10 days ago)
1 is definately no good
2 are maybes
8 I think are good

Ok so the eight are about two thirds full. The other part the clear bit (air sac??) has deep red veins running through that area. Is that normal???

The 2 I think are maybes have the dark area nearly at the same point but there are no deep red veins. What does that mean???

Thanks guys so glad I found this place

 

[Farmer Kitty]

The ones with the deep red veins are good. The other two I would leave but, are questionable.

The veins will slow and die off just before the chick hatches so it won't loose blood. They are to supply the chick with oxygen.

The clear spot on the end is the air sac. This is where the chick should pip into first and start actually breathing. Then it will pip the shell, zip, and hatch!