Candling

[Mrs MIA]

Julie's Silkies :

The sac is middle side of the eggs. not in the ends. if that makes since. LOL

If it's a shipped egg, then it's possible the airsac has become detached. Best to keep those eggs as upright as possible, even hatch them in a carton. I think that's the only thing that has saved a few of my chicks.

I picked up an LED light today in town... I can't wait to try it out.

I can definitely tell you from experience (please don't make the same mistakes I did!) if you're not sure if an egg is good, put some mark on it so you know and leave it in the 'bator. Candle at day 7 to make your initial assessment and markings. I even made a tracking sheet, and number the eggs, so I can look at my notes. Then at day 14 candle again, looking for large dark masses and movement. If at day 14 your eggs are still clear, toss them. I have had "?"s from day 7 have noticeable movement in them at day 10/14. Don't toss them yet. On the evening before, or the day that I put them in the hatcher, I candle again. By now you should only see a dark mass in there and a clear airsac. You can still see movement if you look closely. (I should have photographed the silkie eggs I just put in the hatcher, but too late now... I am NOT touching that hatcher!!) I don't know how many times I gave up on eggs before they did, and cracked it open only to find a chick inside, still alive. Better safe than sorry. BUT... if your eggs are giving off any foul odors, or are weeping (looks like litte droplets of wax on the shell that wasn't there when you put it in...) TOSS IT. Don't risk the other eggs.

I think speckledhen had a thread on egg fertility, and had really clear photos of the bullseye that you will see if it is fertile. Do a search in the incubating forum. But of course, you won't know if it's fertile without cracking it. When my silkies started laying, I would eat the egg in the morning, looking for the bullseye. As soon as I saw one, I collected 4 and put them in the bator... those are the 4 in the hatcher now...

 

[Akane]

What's a blood ring? Is it a dead egg?

I managed to get a pic of one with a blood ring this hatch:

It's even clearer without looking through a camera but you can see the line going around the lower half. The dark area toward the top is the embryo and the line is the blood ring forming. There's a couple veins left but those don't last. A blood ring is the blood pooling there after the embryo dies and bacteria starts to grow making it more visible. While a blood ring can be mistaken and actually just be a mass of blood vessels a true blood ring is a bad egg and it will be obvious in a couple days if you want to wait and candle again. I put this egg back in to see what it would look like and 2days later the ring turned black and the rest of the egg turned a cloudy swirling black. The dark spot was no longer visible. It all just looked shaded with the dark ring under it. A picture would not turn out and just looked dark. I saw a few eggs that looked like this when I candled my last hatch but didn't catch them early to see the start of the blood ring.​

 

[Julie's Silkies]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Julie's Silkies :

The sac is middle side of the eggs. not in the ends. if that makes since. LOL

If it's a shipped egg, then it's possible the airsac has become detached. Best to keep those eggs as upright as possible, even hatch them in a carton. I think that's the only thing that has saved a few of my chicks.

I picked up an LED light today in town... I can't wait to try it out.

I can definitely tell you from experience (please don't make the same mistakes I did!) if you're not sure if an egg is good, put some mark on it so you know and leave it in the 'bator. Candle at day 7 to make your initial assessment and markings. I even made a tracking sheet, and number the eggs, so I can look at my notes. Then at day 14 candle again, looking for large dark masses and movement. If at day 14 your eggs are still clear, toss them. I have had "?"s from day 7 have noticeable movement in them at day 10/14. Don't toss them yet. On the evening before, or the day that I put them in the hatcher, I candle again. By now you should only see a dark mass in there and a clear airsac. You can still see movement if you look closely. (I should have photographed the silkie eggs I just put in the hatcher, but too late now... I am NOT touching that hatcher!!) I don't know how many times I gave up on eggs before they did, and cracked it open only to find a chick inside, still alive. Better safe than sorry. BUT... if your eggs are giving off any foul odors, or are weeping (looks like litte droplets of wax on the shell that wasn't there when you put it in...) TOSS IT. Don't risk the other eggs.

I think speckledhen had a thread on egg fertility, and had really clear photos of the bullseye that you will see if it is fertile. Do a search in the incubating forum. But of course, you won't know if it's fertile without cracking it. When my silkies started laying, I would eat the egg in the morning, looking for the bullseye. As soon as I saw one, I collected 4 and put them in the bator... those are the 4 in the hatcher now...

No foul odors or weeping, I went and bought a turner. I love it

I'm going to wait until day 14 before I decide if it's good or bad.​

 

[Julie's Silkies]

Does a blood ring go all the way around or can it have a break in the ring.

 

[Akane]

It goes around the edge of the yolk so depending on the position you might have trouble seeing one side of it.

 

[Julie's Silkies]

The ones with the ring arent that dark on top.

 

[Akane]

I carefully broke this egg open. I can tell you for certain it was a dead chick with a blood ring around the yolk. It's probably a bit darker looking due to the position I had the egg tipped over the flashlight and the light not shining all the way through. The camera also makes things less visible. I remember looking at candling pics and comments on them and wondering how in the world people managed to see those tiny details. When you are looking directly at it instead of through a camera it's much clearer.

 

[Julie's Silkies]

I'm going to take a pic of the egg and see what you think.

 

[Mrs MIA]

Auto-turners rock!

Oh yes, please post a picture if you can. Even if it looks like a bloodring to me, I mark it with "BR?" and leave it until day 18. You know by then if it's stopped growing.

I just tried out the new LED light... It's supposed to be 10x brighter than a regular LED, and works great on chicken/white eggs... still can't see nuthin' in the coturnix eggs, though. I guess I need a REALLY dark room, but that's kinda hard this time of the year for us.

*edited because I can't spell worth a dink today!!*

 

[monarc23]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Auto-turners rock!

Oh yes, please post a picture if you can. Even if it looks like a bloodring to me, I mark it with "BR?" and leave it until day 18. You know by then if it's stopped growing.

I just tried out the new LED light... It's supposed to be 10x brighter than a regular LED, and works great on chicken/white eggs... still can't see nuthin' in the coturnix eggs, though. I guess I need a REALLY dark room, but that's kinda hard this time of the year for us.

*edited because I can't spell worth a dink today!!*

Yeah, I have to hide in our large closet and then i can actually see! LOL! My mom just rolls her eye at me as I have a hand full of eggs and my pen light in the other...