candling resources?

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Zwei Eichen

Zwei Eichen

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jan 29, 2014
10
0
24
Can anyone point me to candling how to or step by steps? Or first time hatching eggs and I'm not sure what I'm looking at....
 
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StephensonC said:
What day are you on and what color are the eggs? White eggs are much easier to see inside than the brown, blue and green. Green is the worst for me.
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I have the most trouble with green too (of course, I've never hatched a maran chicken egg either...lol). I can usually see the veining around the air cell well enough, but not much to the middle unless it's a real light one. I only use an led flashlight though. I keep saying I am going to get a commercial candler before I hatch again...lol. Most of the brown eggs I've had have been light/medium brown to pinkish, so they haven't been too bad and the whites are a no brainer.
 
My only advice would be, don't candle too much. It's soooo tempting because it's so exciting! However I lost all my eggs in my first hatch... I think in part it's because I candled too much.
 
gogetter said:
My only advice would be, don't candle too much. It's soooo tempting because it's so exciting! However I lost all my eggs in my first hatch... I think in part it's because I candled too much.
Click to expand...
I thought that was why lost my first hatch too, because I candled almost every night for 2 weeks. I made a comment to that effect and everyone said no that shouldn't be the cause. As long as you aren't keeping them out for more than 20-30 minutes. The hen leaves the eggs everyday and it's no different. They were right. It wasn't my candling that ruined my first hatch. The brand new thermometer I had bought (the only one in my bator) turned out to be between 6-7 degrees off. My second hatch I swore I wasn't going to candle more than the 4 days that it is recommended. I still candled on most nights up to lockdown. I was also doing the dry hatch method and it was neccessary for me to keep an eye on my air cells. I only had one quitter at day 3/4 and 2 bloodrings by day 10. The rest were developing great. Went into lockdown with 16 viable active eggs. Finished the hatch with 13 hatchers. The other 3 had made it to day 20/21 and died in the egg before being able to hatch. One had internally pipped and was shrink wrapped. So, I don't worry so much about candling as long as hands are washed first. I'm saying this, but keep in mind, everytime you handle the eggs you are possibly introducing them to bacteria and any rough handling or accidental jarring or dropping of course is going to effect the egg. So, yes, the less you handle the eggs theoretically the safer the eggs are. But I agree with what I was told. Candling shouldn't compromise your hatch unless you are not doing it in a sanatary fashion or are candling multiple times a day or for excessive time periods.
 
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We put eggs in on the 4th so I haven't candle any yet. Thanks for everyone's input. I'm just worried I won't know what I'm looking at!
 
AmyLynn2374 said:
I thought that was why lost my first hatch too, because I candled almost every night for 2 weeks. I made a comment to that effect and everyone said no that shouldn't be the cause. As long as you aren't keeping them out for more than 20-30 minutes. The hen leaves the eggs everyday and it's no different. They were right. It wasn't my candling that ruined my first hatch. The brand new thermometer I had bought (the only one in my bator) turned out to be between 6-7 degrees off. My second hatch I swore I wasn't going to candle more than the 4 days that it is recommended. I still candled on most nights up to lockdown. I was also doing the dry hatch method and it was neccessary for me to keep an eye on my air cells.  I only had one quitter at day 3/4 and 2 bloodrings by day 10. The rest were developing great. Went into lockdown with 16 viable active eggs. Finished the hatch with 13 hatchers. The other 3 had made it to day 20/21 and died in the egg before being able to hatch. One had internally pipped and was shrink wrapped. So, I don't worry so much about candling as long as hands are washed first. I'm saying this, but keep in mind, everytime you handle the eggs you are possibly introducing them to bacteria and any rough handling or accidental jarring or dropping of course is going to effect the egg. So, yes, the less you handle the eggs theoretically the safer the eggs are. But I agree with what I was told. Candling shouldn't compromise your hatch unless you are not doing it in a sanatary fashion or are candling multiple times a day or for excessive time periods.
Click to expand...


Thanks!! I'm happy to hear that!!:D
 
I candle on day 7-10-14-18.

First Hatch:
Day 7 - didn't see much but the air cells, which I outlined with a pencil every time I candled, maybe some veining and lumps..maybe moving...I was very disappointed.
Day 10 - could definitely see veins and some movement...maybe some clears and blood rings.
Day 14 - saw much more definition of shape, movement and realized what I had seen the previous times. Clears and blood ring more obvious.
Day 18 - pulled the now very obvious clears and blood rings. Viable chicks almost filled egg and wasn't as much movement.

Knew much better what to look for the next time I incubated. It just takes some practice and experience.
Candle well after sunset in a dark room, I used a cardboard template with a hole cut to fit into a utility light shade with a 60watt bulb.
 

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