Cinco-de-Mayo Hatch-A-Long celebration!

[Iluveggers]

Good morning! I hope everyone's eggs are doing wonderfully!!!

My two are still going strong. I did candle last night again...I can't help it. I won't be looking at the eggs again till end of this wk...(I hope)


How often do yall candle??
Being as this is my first hatch...I think I wanna do it more than I need to

I candle day 4/5 to check for clears, day 7 to draw air cells/weigh, day 10 to weigh, day 14 to draw air cells/weigh, and day 17/18 to draw air cells/weigh & place eggs with large slanted side of air cell facing up.

 

[junior67]

Good morning! I hope everyone's eggs are doing wonderfully!!!

My two are still going strong. I did candle last night again...I can't help it. I won't be looking at the eggs again till end of this wk...(I hope)


How often do yall candle??
Being as this is my first hatch...I think I wanna do it more than I need to

I do a full candle normally at day 3, then around day 7, then day 12-14 then day 18. BUT I candle at least a few of them normally about every other day sometimes every day. I am so bad with candling. I just can't help myself. If I make it 2 days with out candling I am so proud of myself! haahaa. And I hatched a few batches last year and I think maybe 5 this year? so not really "new" anymore but still just as awesome!

 

[BarnyardChaos]

How often do yall candle??
Being as this is my first hatch...I think I wanna do it more than I need to

From my viewpoint, the only purpose of candling is to remove dead eggs that could potentially leak bacteria and/or explode. Therefore, I think no more often than every 5-7 days would be needed. LESS is better. The more you open the incubator, the more you cause fluctuations to humidity and temperature. I've been told that in the later stages, sudden and frequent drops in humidity leads to shrink-wrapping. In the early stages, temperature is more critical to proper development.

Also, handling eggs exposes them to whatever germs, oils and other contaminants you might have on your hands or the candler. It also greatly increases the chances of damage or death from mishandling. I think most of us here have accidentally dropped an egg during candling.

Again, from my viewpoint (I'm no expert!), it might explain why eggs hatched under broody hens don't have great hatch rates. Broodies will leave the nest for an extended time once a day or so to eat, drink, and poop - tromping through whatever contaminants & bacteria are on the ground, and then transferring that to her eggs while possibly cracking or crushing eggs. By incubating and keeping those variables controlled, we attempt to improve the odds. (disclaimer: I didn't use to think this way, but 6 years of exposure to the smart and well-experienced chicken breeders on this site have enlightened me, and I've changed my opinions.)

So... sorry for the diatribe....
* Beginning of Day 0, when I first set the eggs. I'll weigh them, check for imperfections, and mark air cells, and make notes of any concerns. I note in my log the date and time of the start of incubation. After that...
* Once between Days 5-7 to remove clears and obvious quitters, and check for signs of good progress. I try to get through this as quickly as possible and don't waste time marking air cells nor weighing them. If I can see it has expanded, then it's good enough at this point.
* Once between Days 10-14, but I might not even remove them from the tray - I think this period is the most critical time to prevent any jostling of the eggs. I'm just looking for good progress (I can often see movement without taking them out!), expansion of the air cell, and to remove early quitters. ONLY if there's doubt, I'll remove it to candle more carefully, weigh it, and then decide.
* On Day 18, an extended candling - to weigh them again (should be about 12% weight loss by this time), check the air cell, remove quitters, and make notes on my log of any concerns. If the air cell is angled towards one side or another, I'll make sure they're marked clearly and placed with the air cell UP. And of course, I remove the turner, bump the humidity, and we are in lockdown until hatch.
* Any eggs that have passed Day 21 with no external pip. I can't see much, but I'm checking for an internal pip if possible and listening carefully for chirps. On or after Day 22 and still no progress, I might make a safety hole in the air cell to see what the heck is going on in there.

And that's it. I don't open the lid nor touch them at any other time, not anymore. Hope this helps.

 

[junior67]

I will say that I have 85-100% hatch rates with all my candling. And that is with my shipped eggs so great odds. Most times I only have one or two quitters. IF I was finding more than that then I would think about it and probably not candle as much.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

From my viewpoint, the only purpose of candling is to remove dead eggs that could potentially leak bacteria and/or explode. Therefore, I think no more often than every 5-7 days would be needed. LESS is better

Trying to stick with this mentality


But

still just as awesome!

It is pretty awesome!!!

Also, handling eggs exposes them to whatever germs, oils and other contaminants you might have on your hands or the candler. It also greatly increases the chances of damage or death from mishandling. I think most of us here have accidentally dropped an egg during candling.

I do wash my hands prior to handling, and I may have already dropped and egg...(it was a dud thank God) but yeah...totally see your point!

but I might not even remove them from the tray -

Never thought abt not moving them..

But I do not like to mess with the humidity much and lifting the lid causes such a change...then waiting for it to get back where it needs to be...eyeballing it constantly


I do agree better to just let then be...

But...but...but...

It's just so cool...

I don't plan on candling again till day thursday....we will see if I can hold out...

Thanks for all the info

 

[Canadian Wind]

I candle every few days, because I get nervous. I have to hand turn, and I also give my eggs a once-a-day cooling period, as a hen would, so that's the perfect time to do it.

My recent issues have been because of poor incubator quality.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I candle every few days, because I get nervous. I have to hand turn, and I also give my eggs a once-a-day cooling period, as a hen would, so that's the perfect time to do it.

My recent issues have been because of poor incubator quality.

I started with poor incubator quality. I thought it had cool features...but it was worthless...(well not worthless it did get my two eggs growing)

The one below was my first one

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I candle every few days, because I get nervous. I have to hand turn, and I also give my eggs a once-a-day cooling period, as a hen would, so that's the perfect time to do it.

My recent issues have been because of poor incubator quality.

I checked my copy of the Hubbard Incubation Guide for any references to embryo mortality related to variation of temperature in the incubator, and found only one - as one of the several possible causes of "navel not closed, dry fluff." But it did not say how much variation, how long, or what stage of development (lockdown, perhaps?)

 

[Dinoroar]

How much I candle really varies from hatch to hatch. When I’m hatching for other people I usually candle 3 times once at day 5-7 once around day 14 and once when I move them to the hatch tray.
When I’m incubating s big batch from my flock I sometimes peek at a few eggs but often don’t candle at all until I move them to hatch. I found these awesome candlers from Ali express that are bent handled so I don’t have to pick up the eggs unless they’re suspicious and I need a closer look.

https://m.aliexpress.us/item/325680...&gatewayAdapt=gloPc2usaMsite&_randl_shipto=US

I have 2 but my children often take them for flashlights… then I get stuck using my phone which isn’t as good.

When I’m hatching shipped eggs it something I’m following impatiently I candle a lot. Like my poor duck eggs… every day I think I’ve been peeking at those

For cooling off I just don’t know. My brinsea has a programmable cool off option. I tried to look deeper into research assuming there would be pretty strong evidence if brinsea went to the trouble to add the feature but so far I didn’t find anything compelling enough to actually use it.

 

[Hedgeland Farms]

I had to have a look again tonight...and had a quitter.

One egg left...
That one appears to be growing on track and moves around a ton.

Air Sac has grown some but doesn't look like it doing anything insane...
The incubator has been doing a great job.