Tonight was my first time candling. I have 22 eggs from my flock in a Harris Farms Nurture Right 360 incubator. 11 eggs are from buff brahama hens and the other 11 are from black copper marans hens that have been in with a light brahma, black colored brahma, and black copper marans roosters.
All eggs look viable, none stink. It's tough to see through the marans eggs as I'd anticipated, but I was able to see movement through 2 of them. I saw a vein in one. When I turned the egg upside down I could see the air sac on all of the eggs. The brahma eggs were easy to see into. I could see the chicks' forms and a couple were moving around. One seemed more active than all the others. I hope I didn't disturb them too bad. Since I got no replies to my candling questions, I just took a chance to view them since I hadn't candled any of them yet. Today is day 12. Here’s a photo of my candler. It doesn't seem like a particularly good unit, but it works well for light brown eggs.
I took the lid off of the incubator and while wearing nitrile gloves, I removed all of the eggs placing them on some new plant starter 6-packs that I'd wiped down with isopropyl alcohol about 10 minutes before candling. Then I replaced the lid and began picking up each egg individually, placing them on my candling light cup to view them. I could easily see veins and embryos through the brahma eggs, but the darker marans shells were more challenging. My light doesn't seem bright enough to adequately penetrate dark shells. I didn't take photos while candling. I had them out of the incubator for about 31 minutes on a 78ºF room with relative humidity of about 44%. My only real concerns are:
1) Did I have them out of the incubator too long? I would think a mother hen would hop off the nest that long to eat, drink, and to relieve herself.
2) Did I mess up anything by rotating the eggs and viewing them from both ends?
All eggs look viable, none stink. It's tough to see through the marans eggs as I'd anticipated, but I was able to see movement through 2 of them. I saw a vein in one. When I turned the egg upside down I could see the air sac on all of the eggs. The brahma eggs were easy to see into. I could see the chicks' forms and a couple were moving around. One seemed more active than all the others. I hope I didn't disturb them too bad. Since I got no replies to my candling questions, I just took a chance to view them since I hadn't candled any of them yet. Today is day 12. Here’s a photo of my candler. It doesn't seem like a particularly good unit, but it works well for light brown eggs.
I took the lid off of the incubator and while wearing nitrile gloves, I removed all of the eggs placing them on some new plant starter 6-packs that I'd wiped down with isopropyl alcohol about 10 minutes before candling. Then I replaced the lid and began picking up each egg individually, placing them on my candling light cup to view them. I could easily see veins and embryos through the brahma eggs, but the darker marans shells were more challenging. My light doesn't seem bright enough to adequately penetrate dark shells. I didn't take photos while candling. I had them out of the incubator for about 31 minutes on a 78ºF room with relative humidity of about 44%. My only real concerns are:
1) Did I have them out of the incubator too long? I would think a mother hen would hop off the nest that long to eat, drink, and to relieve herself.
2) Did I mess up anything by rotating the eggs and viewing them from both ends?
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