Candling is HARD!!

[LovinThisFarmGirlLife]

Im sorry if this post is repetitive, I’ve done several searches and lots of internet research and I haven’t found the info I’m looking for so I figured I would start a new thread.

One of my hens decided to go broody on Saturday, so I gathered up 10 eggs for her to sit on. She sat for two whole days and then spend almost an entire day away from the nest before she committed. Now she hasn’t left the nest at all as far as I can tell. So I’m calling today day 4 and decided to candle the eggs and see what there was to see. In one egg there was obvious veining, and in another it looked like there was something floating around in the egg, but in the rest I saw nothing! That was this morning and I was using my flashlight on my phone to candle, so I didn’t get any pics. This evening I went back out to try again and only managed to get two pics.

My question is: what am I looking at? Is this “normal”? Are these two eggs developing or am I just seeing the yolk? I saw no air cells....I see people mentioning those all the time when they talk about candling. I’m so confused! I would like to just leave her and the eggs be and let nature take its course, but if there aren’t any other fertile eggs in the batch, I don’t want to risk a bad egg exploding and killing the one viable chick.

The other eggs either looked like the two above, or just looked completely empty. I feel like a dummy, but I can’t figure out what I’m supposed to be looking for. I would really appreciate some guidance from all you wonderful eggsperts!!

 

[JaeG]

It may be a bit early yet, especially if other hens have added to the clutch. Make sure you mark the ones under her and daily remove any new eggs as otherwise the chicks will hatch out too far apart and some live eggs will be abandoned when your hen leaves the nest to take care of her hatched chicks.

The air cell is a bubble at the fat end of the egg that grows gradually throughout incubation and the chick first pips internally into that to take its first, real breaths, then after awhile (24 hours +) the chick pips externally.

Here's the best site to follow along with daily: https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/incubation-day-1.html

It's full of great info and shows a candling photo of each day of incubation.

Good luck with the hatch. It's gorgeous to see a mother hen teaching and protecting her chicks.

 

[LovinThisFarmGirlLife]

It may be a bit early yet, especially if other hens have added to the clutch. Make sure you mark the ones under her and daily remove any new eggs as otherwise the chicks will hatch out too far apart and some live eggs will be abandoned when your hen leaves the nest to take care of her hatched chicks.

The air cell is a bubble at the fat end of the egg that grows gradually throughout incubation and the chick first pips internally into that to take its first, real breaths, then after awhile (24 hours +) the chick pips externally.

Here's the best site to follow along with daily: https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/incubation-day-1.html

It's full of great info and shows a candling photo of each day of incubation.

Good luck with the hatch. It's gorgeous to see a mother hen teaching and protecting her chicks.

@JaeG Thank you for your response!! I should have mentioned that when I candled them that I marked them, and there have been the same 9 eggs in there since day 1. I just looked over that website and it says you shouldn't move the eggs this early?! Oh man, I hope I didn't do any damage!!! I really hope at least one makes it through....I was so looking forward to watching one of my hens raise her chicks.

 

[JaeG]

@JaeG Thank you for your response!! I should have mentioned that when I candled them that I marked them, and there have been the same 9 eggs in there since day 1. I just looked over that website and it says you shouldn't move the eggs this early?! Oh man, I hope I didn't do any damage!!! I really hope at least one makes it through....I was so looking forward to watching one of my hens raise her chicks.

That advice is there for shipped eggs as they are more delicate, having been often banged about before they get to you which displaces air cells. I've candled my own quail eggs daily (sometimes twice daily ) with no affect on the number that hatches.