Do all of you candle?

[Digby57]

I'm on my fifth hatch and I'm supposed to candle today according to the schedule I have used on my previous hatches. My question: is it 100% that I should even candle at all? I assume that the entire reason is so that any eggs which are not developing should be removed so that they do not somehow explode and contaminate the whole incubator. At least I have read that can happen. Of course I have never seen that or I wouldn't be asking I guess.

Does that really happen? I have always candled twice and removed a few suspicious eggs along the way, but sometimes I wonder if I'm causing more harm than good by removing them all from the incubator. They definately cool off during this process and surely they lose some extra amount of moisture. Please give me your opinions - thanks!

On what days do you candle, if you do?

 

[Punkybrewster]

I candle day 7 and 14.
Ive only had an egg go bad once. Not fun.
Everything had to come out and had to sanitize the bator.

My suggestion is at least candle day 14 to take out the duds.

 

[Thatothercrazychickenlady]

I candle day 12 to remove early quitters and day 17 I remove any others that aren’t developed before lockdown. Had one blow...never going to let that happen again! The smell just wouldn’t go away.
i have a 41 egg incubator so I do small groups at a time as to not let to much heat out.

 

[Chick-N-Fun]

I candle on day 10 and 18 at lockdown.

 

[UThobbyfarmer]

Yes, you can candle to remove yolkers, quitters or bad eggs. But an equally good reason to candle is to check air cells and make sure they're growing appropriately! This is one of the way to know if you're humidity is high, low, or spot on.

Edit: just saw it's your 5th hatch. If you're happy with your hatch rates, have dialed in humidity, you probably don't need to candle unless you want to.

 

[Digby57]

Thanks all. I think I'll wait and candle the 12th day, and again when I lock down. Maybe next time I'll just wait and candle once at lockdown. Wish me luck, hopefully I don't end up learning the hard way.