Candling

[LilyD]

I am at my 7th day incubating quail eggs should I candle them or should I wait?

When do most of you candle your eggs?

 

[NCchicken]

I can not speak for those who candle quail eggs but I only candle mine on day 18 for chicken eggs. I've had bad experiences candling them too early. But that is my two cents.

 

[LilyD]

That was what I was wondering. What should I look for at 18 days to say that they are developing well?

 

[NCchicken]

I have a book with pictures that really helped me out. Maybe you can google image chicken egg candle and see what pops up. First, have a very powerful flashlight. I bought one at Lowe's or Home Depot for about $18.00. What I look for, and by no means am I an expert, but on day 18 the egg will be almost solid black (dark) with a clear indication of an air sac at the top in the shape of a crescent moon(ish). The air sac looked to me like it is fairly large, not huge, but it still surprised me how big of an air sac it was. You might see some blood veins and possibly some slight movement. But the egg should be dark (that's the chicken). I candled mine last night and even heard one peep at me! Scared me to death and then I was all gushy and proud. Good luck and hopefully someone who is more experience than I (I am only on my third hatch) will chime in but I didn't want to leave you hangin'.