first candling, inconsistant results now what

[yyz0yyz0]

Ok, so I have a Broody GLW that I put 12 eggs under 13days ago. I had collected 2doz eggs from my GLW/SLW hens and picked what I thought were the nicest 12 eggs out of the 24 available. From what I can tell she has been sitting on these eggs religiously since they were given to her. the eggs were kept on the counter for up to a week to assemble the clutch to place under her. I did not do anything to the eggs while I was collecting them and holding them, am I supposed to turn them daily before they go under the brooder?

Last friday(day 10), I candled the eggs and got very confused by the results.

Out of the 12 eggs under her, two of them definitely looked different than the other 10. the two had obvious darkening inside but that was all I could see.
The other 10 of the eggs looked no different than one straight out of the fridge.

So now what do I do? Do I just ignore what I found and let her run the clock on the clutch and see what happens?

Do I need a brighter light?

Do I sacrifice(gasp!!) one of the eggs that doesn't appear to have growth and see if there is development when it's opened?

Any eggs we have eaten from this flock all seem to have the fertile spot on the yolk, it's only 6 hens and 1 roo although he is still under 1year old.

July 1st will be 21 days.

What is my next step?

 

[WalnutHill]

All eggs will have the spot on the yolk, it's what the spot looks like that indicates fertility.

If you are seeing clears at 10 days, no veining, chances are that fertility is low. I'd candle one of those again from the big end, then break it and see. If it's clear, and the others candle the same, your odds of hatching 2 chicks is pretty low. But if you want to see how your hen does as a broody, mark the two you think are good, and let her do her job.

 

[RubyNala97]

Have you candled eggs before that were developing? What color are the eggs and are you candling at night or in a very dark place? It's really good to candle around 7 days (I even do it sooner) because you can clearly see red veining all around the air cell. By day 13 the egg would be a lot fuller if they had babies in them but you would still be able to see veining near the air cell. I would make sue you have a bright LED light and candle in a very dark place before cracking one open. Look through some candling pictures to get an idea of what you should be seeing. That would be my next step.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

This was my first time candling developing eggs.

It was pretty dark where i was doing the candling and I thought the light I was using was pretty bright.

The eggs are a light brown shell, pretty thick from the ones we've eaten.

I candled them from the side, not the end. I do remember one of the ones that looked clear I could see the air sac but the other clear ones I could not see anything.

I'll retry tonight with a few of them and put the light on the end of the egg to see if there is any difference.

It would be a shame to only get 2 chicks out of a doz eggs, but even that is better than none.

How much risk is there that any infertile eggs will explode and ruin the other eggs, that's my biggest worry at this point.

 

[RubyNala97]

This was my first time candling developing eggs.

It was pretty dark where i was doing the candling and I thought the light I was using was pretty bright.

The eggs are a light brown shell, pretty thick from the ones we've eaten.

I candled them from the side, not the end.  I do remember one of the ones that looked clear I could see the air sac but the other clear ones I could not see anything. 

I'll retry tonight with a few of them and put the light on the end of the egg to see if there is any difference. 

It would be a shame to only get 2 chicks out of a doz eggs, but even that is better than none.

How much risk is there that any infertile eggs will explode and ruin the other eggs, that's my biggest worry at this point.

As long as the eggs don't smell you should be fine. I used to leave the clears, or infertile eggs in the incubator until the end. Smell each egg and you'll know. And as far as candling you have to shine the light into the fat end of the egg. It will shine into the air cell and that's where you can see veining. Where the inner membrane meets the bottom of the air cell. I'll post a pic of my candling one of my easier eggs. Also this was only around day 7 or so. Easier to see then. But hopefully it will just give you an idea. (This egg was white too). It really takes some time to get comfortable with what your seeing.