Candling questions - "loose" air pockets and no air pockets?

[Riven]

I was candling some eggs that had been shipped and a lot of them had loose air pockets that would float throughout the egg. I've not seen this before ( the package had been mis-routed and when on a journey so who knows what happened to it! ) but I am assuming this is bad? Normally the air pocket stays put right?

My mom sent some eggs and I candled them before putting them in because they don't pick up eggs regularly and I've gotten some bad ones before, and well I prefer to find that out BEFORE they're in the nice hot incubator! Anyway, some of them did not have any air pockets... is this normal?

Sorry, I'm new to candling and trying to figure out all this stuff, hate to pull or toss out good eggs due to ignorance!

Thanks!

 

[2txmedics]

hello....under this catagory...read above where it says STICKY...read me, hatching...alot of info there...hope this helps...I also found that I couldnt candle ...I didnt understand it...I guess...but I read it on another page...when you candle...to lay the egg on its side...and boy did I see alot then....good luck. Im hatching tonight....

 

[insiderart]

The ones where you are seeing the air bubble moving around the egg have "loose air cells". Usually means a pretty rough trip through the mail. Some people have had luck hatching these, but they generally incubate and hatch in egg cartons.

I've seen one or two "full" eggs before, and as I recall they ended up not developing. You can put them in and check again in 7 days.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah, loose air cells usually don't develop.
The ones your mom brought you that don't have any air cells are just very, very fresh. The air cell gets bigger the older the eggs are, so wait a few days and you should see them.

 

[Riven]

Oh good to know on the "full" ones! I set them to the side until I found out more!

I suspected that was the case on the loose bubbles, most that had them were not showing signs of developing, although one did!

I used to work at the vet and I find that candling is a lot like looking at x-rays... if you know what you're looking at/for you can find it, but if you don't know it takes quite a while!

I'm going to try to toss another question in here, does the yolk usually "settle" after incubating? A couple that my mom brought looks like the yolk moved a lot, is this normal? They weren't handled roughly so I didn't suspect that it was broken or anything, these were some of the ones that were "full".

Thanks tons!

 

[shelleyd2008]

A free-moving yolk is also a sign of a fresh egg. If you have laying hens, candle one of their eggs tomorrow. You will see no air cell and a very wiggly yolk.

After incubating a few days, the egg yolk will seem to settle to the bottom of the egg. This is the first signs of development. I can tell by this before I ever see veins if the egg is developing or not.

 

[Riven]

Awesome! I actually hadn't put the eggs from the laying hens in the fridge yet so I checked a couple of them!

Thanks! Glad I asked and didn't toss them! :O