Candling on day 5

[ih66series]

I tried candling on day five and the only thing I could see was a dark blob. They are brown standard size eggs, and I have never candled or incubated before, so my light might not be strong enough. But, is it normal for dark, thick shelled eggs to be tough to see through?

 

[Cherstin]

I'll bet they could be difficult to see through ... the biggest tip or trick that I've found is to make sure the room you are candling in is DARK.

I candled day 3 with just a little LED penlight, but could see very well considering I did it in a very dark room. Good luck!

 

[ih66series]

I went into a completley dark room with no windows and saw veins using a small LED light.

 

[al6517]

There is really no earthly reason to candle on day 3-5, if your not a super pro you won't see much even in the best of conditions. You should not have seen a dark blob at day 5 as that will come much later, it sure can be hard to see through good dark hard shelled eggs, that's why a good eye is crucial. Candling is an aquired task and many things can be misleading, you'll get better the more eggs you candle.

 

[cmom]

I use a shop lamp with a 65 watt halogen lamp. Works great... These are all brown eggs.

Infertile egg

Egg at day 10, sorry it's so blurry.

 

[ih66series]

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Well, I saw veins when I used the correct light and I am not a "super pro".

 

[nurse_turtle]

At day 5 you will see veining in a good, developing egg. I also will candle at day 4 or 5 just because I want to. I can't help myself. I feel the key to getting the best view from those darker eggs is to candle in a pitch dark room (I wait til night) and have a tightly focused light source. I use a small cardboard box with a 1 or 1 1/2" hole cut in top and place the box over a large square flash light. Over the hole I have a few layers of paper towel squares with a hole cut in the center and cover that with a piece of black fabric with the same sized hole in it. Then I am able to place the egg directly on the black fabric and all light is stopped from escaping around the bottom of the egg. I am able to turn the egg over the light source to see everything from different angles. I don't trust my grip to hold the egg up to a light over my head. even though I candle early, I still never throw any out until much later. Then why candle at all so early? Because I want to.

 

[speedy2020]

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I like to candle my around 10 days. By the way, you may want to do a quick test by putting your hand under the candler. If it is too hot, your eggs may get cook when you candling. I don't use halogen lamp because of the high heat. I have similar setup, but used ultra compact fluorescent light bulb.

 

[Cherstin]

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So, "you'll get better the more eggs you candle," but there's no reason to candle day 3-5??!

What if we all want to become super-pros?

Candle away! You can stare at pictures all day long, but until you try, you won't experience it yourself.

For those of us with mini (mine's a 3-egg) incubator, it DOES make a big difference to candle early. If I can see nothing is happening in there, I can start a new batch without wasting a week waiting on bad eggs, eh??!

Sorry, to each their own, but my feeling is that you do what you want. If you want tips on how to do something better, ask away. It's very exciting to see those first signs of life, so whether you want until day five, ten, or 16, try it and learn. Just make sure you aren't being held back solely by your equipment. Good luck!

cmom, cool set-up and great pics!

 

[CrestedGirl]

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That is a great idea! I think i might try that.