candling question..UPDATE pg 2 - 3 chicks so far!

[verlaj]

I have 10 shipped eggs under a broody hen - 4 blue eggs (Ameraucanas) and 6 brown eggs (Golden Cuckoo Marans). It is day 14. I candled the eggs tonight for the first time.

I am pretty sure that I only have 4 developing embryos, 1 Ameraucana and 3 Marans. I would like to have some reassurance that I am correct on the bad eggs before I take them out of the nest.

The 4 that I feel sure are good have clearly defined air cells and the remainder of the contents is very dark - no light penetrates at all.

Of the other 6, 3 have a visible air cell, but the rest of the contents doesn't look dark enough - nothing like the 4 I'm sure are good.

One of the remainder has a visible air cell, and the other contents look like part is light and another part is darker, but the darker part is "loose" and goes to the top of the egg when I rotate it.
Another one has a visible air cell, but the rest of the contents just looks light.
The last looks clear.

Can I be confident that the 6 that don't have the sharp contrast between the air cell and the very dark embryo are bad, and take them out of the nest? ( I don't see any blood vessels or movement in any of the eggs.)

Thanks for your help.

 

[poularde]

I am very new still. I am incubating my first eggs right now. When I candled my eggs I had quite a few that looked clear to me.

I looked at as many pics I could.

What I wanted to tell you is on day 14 all the that looked clear definitely were when I broke them open. I still have one egg I am not sure about. I plan on leaving it in unless it starts to smell. I hope maybe it might hatch. Good luck to you.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I'd take the ones with no veining out and the clear.

 

[verlaj]

Thanks for the support! I'm going to get the 6 I thought were bad, recheck them, and unless I see some sign of life, toss them.
Is there a really good reason to open them if I still think they are bad?

 

[jenjscott]

The main reason to open them is to confirm what you thought were bad eggs and reinforce what you saw when you candled. WHAT IF, the first one you break is still viable? You can put the others back in the incubator. At 14 days, the entire egg should not be dark. If you shine the egg from the bottom, there should also be some lighter areas there. The entire egg won't be full until the last several days.

 

[verlaj]

Thanks, jenscott! I did go get the 6 I thought were bad. Decided 4 were definitely bad - the air cell is not fixed in place - when I rotate those eggs, the contents just move around depending on the position of the egg. Of the other 2, one has a defined air cell and the remainder of the contents is dark, but not as dark as the ones I'm sure are good. The other one looks like there was something developing (has a fixed air cell, then within the rest of the contents, there is one much darker part. I think that one "quit." For these 2, I marked the air cell edges with a pencil, then put them back with the hen. I will check the 6 still under her in another day, I guess, and see if there is any change, then go from there. One of the problems is that 6 of the eggs are Marans eggs. The shells aren't super dark, but it does make it a little harder to see.

I'll post again after I open what I am pretty sure are bad ones.

 

[Penturner]

Quote:
Yes, to learn. It actually has a name Embryodiagnosis. It helps you improve your egg handling and incubation technique. It also helps you have a much better idea of what all that floaty around stuff really is.
At day 14 depending on how the egg is turned you can still have light patches. I not only had the air cell at the top of the egg at day 14 but a very clear area of albumine at the very bottom. also imagine the chick is curved in a "C" shape inside the egg but is not yet cramped for space. I just candled my eggs at the end of day 11 beginning of day 12 and although about half the egg is dark is is obvious that the chick curves up one side of the egg leaving the other side looking clear. In no way should an egg look completely clear and should look more than half full by now. remember they still have a wek of growth inside that space and they will put on almost half their size in those 7 days.

 

[verlaj]

Okay - I opened the 4 that I was pretty sure were bad. All were bad. No sign of development at all. The yolks were still intact in 2, already broken in the other 2.

Will post again after candling the other 2 I think are bad tomorrow night.

 

[Penturner]

Good for you, I know it is hard to do and gross. But what you will know next time you candle an egg will greatly increase.

 

[3forfree]

I was given 4 duck eggs, and as the days went by 2 looked like something might be going on inside, and 2 looked bad. About day 10 I cracked open one of the suspect bad eggs, and nothing was going on, so I cracked the second one, and there wasn't anything but yoke it. One of the other 2 had veins, and movement in it, so I cracked the other, and nothing but yoke. I have one that definetly has somethin going on, it's growing, and moving every day, supposed to hatch on May 15.