Egg candles opaque/dark at 7 to 9 days old???

normanack

Crowing
11 Years
Apr 15, 2012
1,164
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Michigan, USA
I thought I understood candling, but my first set of eggs in an incubator has already stumped me.

All the eggs have, to my knowledge, been incubating seven to nine days.. Some I switched out from under a broody to give her some shipped (expensive!) eggs, and some I collected and added to the incubator that same day. (The broody had been sitting two full days; I switched out the eggs early on the third day.)

Today is the seventh day in the incubator, so the oldest (pre-brooded) eggs should be on their day 9, and the non-pre-brooded eggs should be on their day 7.

Most of the eggs candle either clear or with some veining. Only one is white-shelled, and the rest are green/blue or brown. I'm unsure if I just can't see well enough to distinguish veining in the apparently clear ones, so they're staying in the incubator. Of the ones with veining, some also have a small dot (embryo?) and some of those are obviously moving, from a gentle pulse to one that is pea-sized and moving a lot.

One egg had an obvious blood ring, and I took it out.

And one egg is stumping me. It candles mostly dark, as in opaque, with an air cell that isn't obviously larger than the other air cells. I don't know if rotten eggs candle this way, or if it's unaccountably much further along. Can anyone help me?

Many thanks!
 
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Oh, man. I don't know how to take a picture like that, but will give it a try.
Many thanks for offering to help!
Off to find my camera . . .
 
Okay. First pic is of one of the other "normal" eggs, just for comparison:




And here is the dark/opaque egg:



The shells are similar in color. Same light source.

Many thanks for your thoughts!
 
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I'm thinking that the shell on the second egg is thicker. I've candled eggs that are the same color with the light on, and when you go to candle them, one is way easier to see than the other. It's probably fine.
frow.gif
 
Not hatching time yet -- earliest eggs went in April 14th, others the 15th, 16th, and 17th -- so I'm hoping for hatching to begin May 5th.
I think the thickness of the eggshell (as well as color) is indeed the obstacle, though I really don't have a way of telling yet.
FWIW I've also noticed that the darker the room, and the longer I wait to let my eyes adjust to the darkness, the better the view I get. An egg that's totally unviewable in a dim room is much easier to candle in a fully dark room, and even better when I've sat in that room awhile. But -- still can't see into some of the eggs, other than the airspace.

Yesterday the embryo in the lone white egg was seriously rocking and rolling around. :)

Has anyone tried using ultrasound to see into the eggs? Surely there is a doctor/nurse/technician with access to ultrasound who also raises chickens . . .
 
have you tried a brighter flashlight? When i candle my eggs I use a flashlight app on my phone, at night, and go in a room without windows (my hall bathroom), I havent tried this on really dark eggs but it is working for my medium brown with dark spotted quail eggs.
also im noticing you are candling them on their side, with my brown quail eggs i cant see into them at all unless i shine she light through the big end.
 
I've been using a 2 million candlepower handheld spotlight -- not as amazing as it sounds, as it runs down very quickly.
Today I figured out that making a much smaller hole for the light to shine through really makes a difference.
Added to your advice to candle from the big end instead of the side, I've been able to get a better view. Some eggs still candle as simply dark (plus air space), but others clearly show a chick blob in the darkness. :)
 
Hatch has been achieved. :)

The first four:



This is Godzilla, a Silkie/Polish cross from the first egg in post 4 above. Rocked and rolled as an embryo, hatched the same. Very active chick!


A few more:








Ten live chicks, plus one who didn't make it through hatching, one early blood ring, and three eggs unhatched, total 15 eggs. We're giving them an extra couple days in the incubator just in case.

Thank you for your help and reassurance! :)
 

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