Candling- why is it important?

[wolfwalker]

I candle twice at day 10 and at lockdown at day 17. Unless removing the egg from the incubator I don't touch them, I bring the light to the egg. at each candling I remove quitters or non developing. If you do decide to candle often, make sure your hands are absolutely clean so you don't introduce pathogens. During incubation the protective bloom is completely gone by day 7, sometimes sooner depending on incubation practices.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I think candling is wonderful from an educational standpoint, however I've had four total hatches so far, three under a broody and one in a 'bator. I didn't have a good candler and most of my eggs are dark so early efforts under a broody were fruitless and I relied on the sniff test. If none of them stunk, they all stayed. However a lot of folks like to candle to determine if there are any "quitters" with dead embryos. These are removed in case they start to rot; they may explode and infect other eggs.

When I used an incubator, there were 22 eggs. For fun, I had two "control" eggs that I candled daily for the first 14 days, and every other day up until day 19 after that. I intermittently picked some random eggs to candle, but I didn't want to risk dropping an egg or taking too much time when candling, so only about half were ever candled. None of them stunk. I had 12 out of 22 hatch, and of those seven were either infertile or extremely early quitters. The other three were developed but didn't hatch. Two had pipped internally and passed, and one looked as if it passed a couple of days before time to pip internally. None of them smelled or exploded.

Personally I feel confident that it is safe to not candle, and simply watch for bad smells. I haven't tossed a single quitter in any hatch until mama hen was ready to get off the nest.

 

[Chickassan]

I candle to keep an eye on the air cells, check for development or lack of and just because I like doing it.
The third reason is really the only one I need.
I do wear a new pair of nitrate gloves with each look to keep the risk of contamination low especially in the middle and end stages when the eggs are getting more porus.

 

[Chickassan]

Awesome video!
I didn't candle any many years ago when I had broodies doing the work, but when I got back into chickens I only had three eggs and an incubator so candling quickly became a guilty pleasure.

I really skirted around my point when I replied, and you said what I was indirectly trying to say. I really do it because I like to. I've had numerous successful hatches without candling, or candling only a small percentage of the eggs. I've gotten some truly amazing videos of the embryos!

Here's one of mine on day 7!!

I also was blessed to witness the heart beat on day 2 of development.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Black sharpie on three sides. I do a star and date, plus pen it came from.

That involves remembering to do so, which is the part I struggle with. I've even put sticky notes on the coops, but I always forget to bring markets down.

 

[yakitori]

I candled my eggs everyday under the broody. They all hatched. The one that I candled the least actually didn’t end up making it after hatch.

I also candled my crockpot eggs once or twice a day. One quit on day 5, though I’m not entirely convinced that it has anything to do with the handling.

So far, my own conclusion is, candle them as much as you want

 

[MadamContrary]

I candle before incubation to check for shell quality and cracks, again around day 8-10 to see fertility, and again before lockdown to remove any quitters. I also do a daily sniff at the incubator vent, I had never had an egg explode until this year, I have been hatching lots of shipped eggs since November last year, and I had two full on explosions and a few leakers, even with candling, one egg in 4 different hatches.
Make sure your hands and candler are clean and oil free or use gloves so you don't accidentally contaminate them either.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Crockpot eggs? What?

They made a crockpot incubator

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Why do they candle???

So you can tell if an egg. Is alive and how old it is if it is

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

I don't (read: Can't and won't) seperate my broodies from the flock, and that means new eggs are in the nest constantly. And I apparently suck at marking them

Black sharpie on three sides. I do a star and date, plus pen it came from.