Day 6 Candling: Is this good or bad?

[ChestnutRidge]

This is my first time incubating eggs. I became overly curious last night and candled 6/21 eggs, 2 of each breed/type (Speckled Sussex, Welsummer, Easter Egger). Some just appeared to have a light/clear area and a clump-ish darker area at the large/upright end of the egg, as in the Welsummer and Sussex pictures. In the others, I could see clear veining as in the Easter Egger pic below!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahem. Excuse me. Anyhow, are the clump-ish eggs developing?

Welsummer 1

Speckled Sussex 4

EE 6

I also weighed the eggs. They currently weigh between 91.3-96.7% of their original weights before incubation. Welsummer 1 pictured in my above post (clumpy dark area) has decreased in weight from 64 to 60 grams (93.75% of original weight). EE 6 with the veining has decreased from 65 to 60 grams (92.3% of original weight). Is this a good rate? I know it should be 11-15% throughout the hatch; if I assume 12.5% as optimal (someone posted on another thread; I forget where/who) and they lose weight at a steady rate, then these should have only lost 4.17% and are losing weight too quickly, but I think they look pretty good. I've kept the humidity at about 40%. Based on this rate of weight loss, is that too high, too low, or okay?

Thank you for your help!

 

[CrazyChickensEverwhere]

#3 is good, cant tell on others tho

 

[Rebel Rooster]

Quote:
Agreed...

 

[nicoletm24]

if i had to guess #1 maybe
#3 looks like it's on the way


the others I can't tell

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Your Wellies and Sussex are just too hard to see into this early. Day 10 you'll see more of the development in those eggs and by lockdown there's no question as to what's made it. The egg will be dark except the large air sac in big end and fluid in pointy end.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Quote:
Pic 1 and 2 look really porous and not developed but give them til day 10 or 14. Pic 3 is showing veins. When new to candling try waiting to day 10 and candle down into the egg from the big end with a good small mag flashlight or candler. Dark room! That's very helpful to learn what you are looking for.

 

[Gypsy07]

If according to your calculations they are losing weight too fast, then you should raise your humidity slightly to slow down the rate of loss. The point of weighing eggs is to give you the ability to ensure that they lose weight at the correct rate, without having to judge how the airsac looks. If I were you, I think I would raise my humidity to 50%, then weigh again on day 12 to see what the progress has been.

From your photos, #3 looks great. Nice clear veining. I can't really tell about the other two though. And remember, don't pay any attention to weight loss rates in any eggs that turn out to have been non-developers! Also if there are any eggs you're not sure about, don't use them to calculate weight loss rates. Non-fertile eggs will lose weight much more slowly than fertile developing ones.

 

[ChestnutRidge]

Thank you, everyone, for sharing your opinions and expertise! BYC is great.

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That’s very good advice. I knew I really should be waiting, but curiosity got the better of me. A number of the eggs had that porous look when they arrived from shipping. I went ahead and put them in, so we’ll see what they do. Thank you also for the advice to candle down from the big end. I hadn't realized that was a clearer view.

Quote:
Thank you for the weight loss information. I really want to learn to rely on that method. I will take your advice and raise my humidity. So, the weight loss should be steady rather than faster in the beginning and then slowing, correct? I hadn’t seen the information to be sure. Also, I’m very glad to know that non-developers lose weight more slowly. I suspected as much, last night, but didn’t want to be rash. #3 above was 92.3% of its original weight, while the egg below was still at 96.7%. Very clear difference. Thanks!!!

Welsummer 2 - still 96.7% on day 6

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Just to be sure, I went off and checked the information in Brinsea's Incubation Handbook. It's available to download FREE if you go to their website, and it's got loads of good information. P12 has an example of a weight loss chart and it does show a steady weight loss, not faster at the beginning or the end or anything. So if you want an egg to lose, say, 12 grams by day 18, it should lose 4g by day 6, 8g by day 12 etc.

Personally I think the weight loss method is the simplest way to figure out your own ideal humidity. I try never to give specific advice on ideal humidity figures because just from looking around on BYC it's obvious that people have success incubating with such a vast range of humidities, from below 20% to above 55%, that it would be silly to make a guess to try and tell someone what would work best for them. And of course what works well in a still air styro bator might be a disaster in a fan assisted Brinsea. Etc etc... But explaining to someone how to weigh eggs lets them figure out what their own ideal humidity really is.

What kind of bator are you using by the way?

Oh, Texas University also has a very useful incubating guide which you can find here: http://gallus.tamu.edu/library/extpublications/b6092.pdf

 

[Suechick]

Quote:
Pic 1 and 2 look really porous and not developed but give them til day 10 or 14. Pic 3 is showing veins. When new to candling try waiting to day 10 and candle down into the egg from the big end with a good small mag flashlight or candler. Dark room! That's very helpful to learn what you are looking for.

I had a lot that looked porous like that. But by the time the hatched they had filled in or something. It was weird, but they didn't look porous at all by day 10. I'm thinking that isn't a big problem in most cases