eggs being fertile

[hatchcrazzzy]

i have heard that you can candle fresh eggs and tell if fertile
is this true?if so what do you look for

 

[speckledhen]

No, you can't candle an egg and tell if it's fertile unless it's been incubated for several days. No way. You can, however, crack it into a bowl and look and tell. The white spot will have a circle around it, most refer to it as the bullseye. That indicates a fertilized egg.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yep. But once you crack it, the chick will no longer ever become a chick, just breakfast.

 

[speckledhen]

So true, LOL! But just imagine what kind of high-powered candler you would have to use to see that little bullseye inside a fresh egg?

 

[silkiechicken]

I bet royicus could figure that one out. Now to create the 5000 lumen HID super candler! Like a spotlight in the pocket!

 

[jessied1227]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a question:

So, if you cannot tell immediately if an egg is fertilized, you let the broody sit on it for a few days or incubate for a few days, then candle, correct?

When you do candle, you look for veining? The only eggs I have experience with candling are parrot/parakeet eggs. They are very small with perfect white shells, so it's an easy job.

What do you all use to see inside those nice, dark brown eggs?

I plan on letting my roo breed a couple of my girls in the spring, so I'm just curious.

Thanks-
Jess

 

[speckledhen]

Usually you wait till about day 5-7 to candle eggs. I use a slide projector as a candler-works like a charm! At that stage, you'd see veins beginning to radiate out.
I had some opaque olive green eggs I hatched and at seven days with my 300 watt projector, I actually saw veins in those.
Check out this wonderful site full of candling photos at all stages:
http://www.minkhollow.ca/HatchingProgram/Candling/Week1/Day-6.html

 

[silkiechicken]

I use a moded surfire 6P flashlight and it works like a charm! Even on those brown eggs. One trick is to make sure that no light gets around the egg because if it does, it makes it hard to see through the egg. The more focused the light the better.