Does it harm shipped eggs to candle them?

I candle on day 7, sometimes day 12 and then when I put them in the hatcher on day 18 whether they're shipped or my own eggs.

 

Katy,
What is the difference between an incubator and a hatcher? Thanks!

 

A hatcher is used the last 3 days of incubation (day 18 - 21, when you are no longer "turning eggs") and an incubator is used for first 18 days (unless you don't have a hatcher than you can use your incubator for this too.)

 

I use a separate incubator as a hatcher so I can deal with a staggard hatch. That way I'm not messing with the incubator to turn some eggs while waiting on the hatch.

 

Ah ha! Very good. Thanks for clearing that up for me ladies. Aloha~

 

Candling is nothing more than shining light through the egg. That will not in any way harm the viability of an embryo.

What will harm them is rough handling in shipping. If your box was beat up that was most likely the reason for poor egg development.

You should also be certain your hands are clean. Also don't cross contaminate from chicken to quail.

 

If the eggs are handled gently when candles you will in no way harm them. Just don't jeep the bator open for long periods of time to do the candling as your temp and humidity will drop

 

I always candle mine before putting them in the 'bator. When they arrive, I take out any that are obviously broken, unwrap the rest and carefully set them in an egg carton (pointy side down of course ) and set it up out of little hands reach for 8hrs. Then I candle them as I put them into the bator.

Unfortunately, I more or less have to use shipped eggs....but I've been blessed to find awesome chicken mamas on here to send me some!