Early Candling Question

[wolverine]

Hi all,

I've had a look at the excellent sticky thread at the top here re: candling. I have another question, which is no doubt very easy to answer!

Our eggs went in to the incubator three days ago and we candled them last night. Ideally I would have left them longer, but we had an temperature problem, and the incubator spent a short time at 40-41 deg C, so I am worried I have cooked them. Of the 18 eggs in, most look very similar, with the exception of four that I suspect are not fertile as they look clear.

The other 14 have a dark mass at one end when candled, which the light doesn't shine through. I can't see any veins or anything else.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Alexander]

40-41 C isnt a problem.You candled early though.You should candle at 7-10 days of incubation.As far as I am aware of seeing a dark mass is good.

Wait some more days and candle again.If they ones you say are infertile have not changed then throw them out.
I just want to tell you that you havent cooked them

PS:

 

[yinepu]

it's best to candle chicken eggs around day 7 (very dark shelled eggs around day 10).. if you candle even as early as day 4 you may have some slow starters that look infertile on day 4 but in actuality aren't..
so by day 7 you can tell for certain which were slow starters.. which are good eggs.. and which are infertile

 

[dmazaika]

I agree that you should wait until day 7 to candel the eggs. Day 4 is kind of early to really tell.

 

[Anarchy82]

I check my eggs on Day 4 also. (New to it, and couldn't wait). But I didn't throw my first egg due to being unfertile until day 10. Just cause I wanted to make sure.

I noticed after you do it a couple times you will learn for certain things to look for. I am still not perfect, but I can catch more now.

 

[wolverine]

Thanks for the feedback guys, more patience needed I think!

What confused me was that I saw photos from other folks who had candling pics from day one, and at day four, you could see a perfect dark embryo with a spider-web of veins coming off towards the shell.

Will leave it a week I think.

Thanks

 

[shanshan51]

I am at 5 days on my first hatch. I don't see veins either. But I do see 2 eggs with a much larger dark mass at one end. And an egg with what appears to be nothing in it. Good luck we are both in the impatient boat together!!!

 

[wolverine]

That's good to know, please keep me posted on how it goes. I'm hoping to get a more sophisticated candling setup than I had last time (maglite torch + hand!) so that I can take a picture. I have been noting temperatures and humidities and have numbered the eggs so that I can try to work out what went right/wrong depending on how it turns out.

As I built my own incubator, I'm still learning about that too. I bought a temperature controller from eBay, an STC-1000, which was quite cheap and is just brilliant. The temperature is now only varying between about 37.3 and 37.8 deg C (99.1 - 100.0 F), so I'm pleased with that, despite my earlier temperature trouble!

Oh well, time to wait a while and see what happens I guess...

 

[biddybird]

Definately be patient. Sometimes you will have that fast developing easy to see through egg and sometimes the shell is a little thicker than you think and until they grow larger you will not be able to see. I always wait to judge at 10 days, but if I have the time I too still peek early.

 

[wolverine]

Hi all,

Well - Day 5, and we're a bit more settled. Whilst topping up the water, we candled one of our Cream Legbar eggs, as the shells are easy to see through; and one of the Welsummer eggs, in our new candler (home made this evening from a Whisky bottle tube!)

Picture of Cream Legbar Egg follows:

(If you're wondering what is written on it, my wife did request that she name one of the eggs "Shelley"...

Definitely see some veins that were not there a day or two ago.

Nothing to see in the Welsummer Eggs, but they're very thick and dark. Seems to be a dark mass near the top. Not sure if this is good or not.

Picture of Welsummer Egg follows:

Anyhow, will wait and see what transpires at 10-14 days.