Do you candle dark eggs?

Happy Chooks

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Jul 9, 2009
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I have some Welsummer eggs in my incubator. I can't see a thing yet through them. (But it's only Day 5) When I compare this to my other eggs, they are easy to see through. Saw what looked like some veins starting today in one of them.
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It got me wondering if I'll be able to see anything, even later in incubation?(probably not a good idea for 1st time hatching, but I REALLY wanted them) So do you candle dark eggs? If you do, when do you candle them and what do you look for?
 
I have some blue and green eggs I haven't been able to see other than dark mass. I candled them at day 7, then last night at day 9/10. I just know they aren't clear. They aren't rotten, or seeping either. I'll just keep checking them every few days I guess.
There are a couple brown eggs that I can't see either, but the rest of those I could. I saw movement, and veins
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It's my first time hatching too. I looked on a couple web sites that showed candled eggs, and none of mine looked like the bad ones. All I can do is keep an eye on em and wait.
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I did mark the ones I was unsure about with ?'s

Bluemoon
 
I've found that a 100 watt flood light in a candle box allows me to see into the dark eggs. I can't see the vains in the firsts days but what i do is, if after the third day you can see right through them they won't hatch but if it darkens then you've got peeps on the way.
 
I usually candle on d-7, d-14 and on d-18 when I put them in the hatcher. Try looking for the air cell and tracing it with a pencil and watch it grow with each candling. If it doesn't grow then something is wrong. Compare all of your eggs.
 
Welsummer and Marans eggs are pigmented on the outside; it's just a coating, and the thinner coatings are easy to see through. Green, blue, and other brown eggs are pigmented within the shell itself. I can sometimes see the air sac inside them, but nothing else. I just keep turning them until day 18 and keep my fingers crossed!
 
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Well I'll just keep going and
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On some of them I can see the dark spot, so I guess that's good. I'll check again next week and compare.
 

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