My silkie is sitting on 6 eggs right now. I just gave them to her yesterday. So my question is do I have to candle the eggs at some point or is it ok to just let them go and hope it turns out alright. Do the eggs go bad if they don't develop?
The eggs will go bad eventually if they don't hatch. I usually throw them out at day 24 to be safe. If they are white or very light brown you can usually see development at day 4. It will be very little veins. I candle mine every few days just to see how they are doing and I love to see the babies moving. So it's up to you.
If I do try to candle them will the my silkie have an issue with it? Will it bother her to take the eggs from her?
personal I would not candle till day ten for the fact that the chicks embryo is so delicate at the early stages you could damage the umbilical cord and the chick will die. I do understand the fun in it but the fewer times you handle the eggs the less quitters you are likely to have. By ten days the embryo and cord is a lot more stable. It is your choice just wanted you to have a choice and know why I never candle before day ten.
I have incubated many eggs that I never candled. I had almost 300 eggs going and hundreds of chicks in the brooder. I just forgot I guess. We crack open each egg before throwing them out to see how developed the chick was. We have had a few clear ones with nothing growing, but not many. So, I would say no, you don't HAVE to, but it is something I enjoy very much. It shouldn't bother your hen to take her eggs for a minute to candle them. I would of course take them at night. Good luck on this hatch!!!
Quote:I do agree with this. I have experienced a much better hatch rate when I just got patient and did not candle until about day 10. I try to be very carful and not turn the eggs. I simply pull them up off the turner and put the light directly under them. I move the light around, not the egg. If you have a nice broody hen, she will turn the eggs and keep the humidity and temperatures right for ya. No need to candle. She usually throws the bad eggs out and stops sitting the ones that will not hatch. Hens are pretty darn smart.
Just to be on the safe side (so nothing explodes under her, ewww) I would candle on day 12ish, by day 12 you will be able to see a good size "blob" in the egg so you should be able to tell bad and good eggs. I wouldnt take them all away from her at once to candle, I would go out to her and candle out there. I have found the best time to candle hen eggs is when they are taking there eat, drink, poop break !! Good luck, I hope you and her have a great hatch !!
Quote:I agree with this 100%. Chickens have been hatching eggs for a long long long time and they do just fine without our help. Steve in NC
