First Time Candling, I'm Not Sure If I did It Correctly

[Ezana4CE]

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?

 

[Wyorp Rock]

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.
View attachment 4317666
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 dozens seem like a particularly good unit, but it works well for light brown eggs.
View attachment 4317667

I took the lid off of the incubator and while wearing nitrile gloved 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 dark enough. 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?

I think you did just fine!

No, it shouldn't have messed up anything by rotating the eggs gently and viewing from both ends. The eggs are being turned or rolled in the incubator.
And no, you didn't keep them out too long. I know it can be nerve racking (always is for me!) but you did fine!

Some folks candle frequently, some not at all, just observing to make sure an egg doesn't look like its leaking, etc.

I usually candle at around day 7, 15 and 18 or so, removing any clear or dead ones at 18.

There's a ton of info in the hatching threads and information/learning center.

I also like this blog(?) site, she has some videos and photos walking you through the days/weeks, you may want to check that out too.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/incubating-chicken-eggs.html

Hope you have a successful hatch!

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Wyorp Rock Thank you. I'd been reading a decent amount of threads over that past couple of days. I hadn't encountered a BYC thread where members explain the details of their candling process in regards to time out of the incubator or if they remove all of the eggs at once. I guess it varies by ambient air temps, humidity, style of incubator etc. This is my little starter incubator so hopefully I can get at least a couple of years out of it without it conking out on me. Thanks for the link too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I also think you did fine. Keeping the eggs clean is important, you did a better job of that than I normally do. I wash my hands, don't worry about gloves. I do use something clean to lay them on. Your time out of the incubator was not close to excessive. The eggs will not cool off enough to be a problem and they will not lose enough moisture for it to be a problem.

Did you drop one and crack it? That would be bad. But as long as you were reasonably gentle, flipping them and turning them over is not a problem. Just don't shake them.

I generally candle on Day 7 and at lockdown. Day 7 is just for curiosity, I don't remove any based on that. At lockdown I remove any that I'm sure aren't going to hatch, mainly the clears. If there is any question at all I leave them in. The reason I remove the clears is to reduce the number of eggs I'm watching during hatch. It's easier to keep track of individual eggs.

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined! Let us know how it goes.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Ridgerunner Thank you. I guess I’ll continue to add to this thread as things progress. The only thing I am a bit apprehensive about are my temps and relative humidity. I have an external hygrometer with a probe hanging through the vent window that reads lower temp and humidity than the integral hygrometer in the Nurture Right 360 incubator. I didn’t calibrate either one. This morning the NR 360 integral hygrometer read 99.5F, RH 56%, the Inkbird hygrometer read 99.1F, 42.9%.

This is the hygrometer.

Link to it for more details. https://a.co/d/0j0sS154

 

[Ridgerunner]

Neither one were calibrated so you don't know which is more correct. I use a medical thermometer that is calibrated in the temperature range we are using to calibrate. But either temperature will work, they are close enough. If the lower one is correct then they may hatch a bit late but not late enough to endanger the hatch.

I don't have a good way to calibrate the hygrometer for humidity. That is quite a range. I'd carry on and evaluate the eggs that do not hatch to try to determine if humidity had a negative effect on them. It took me three or four tries to determine I get the best results when my hygrometer reads 40% humidity during incubation. I never calibrated it so I don't know how accurate it is.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I'm getting close to lockdown. I put the eggs in on the evening of 3/13/26. I read that I should count 3/14 as Day 1 instead of 3/13. If this is correct, then I should start lockdown on Tuesday 3/31/26. Does this sound right to those of you with more experience? Edit: I think I'll stick to my scheduled lockdown for the evening of 4/1/26. That will be next time I candle the eggs. I also intend to remove the turning tray, place some shelf liner down, fill the second reservoir, and turn off the egg turner.

Other than that, my only real concern at this point is it looks like we'll have days where a storm is forecast during lockdown. I'm worried about a power outage while I'm away from home. How should I handle an outage once I return? I'm thinking that I could either put the incubator on a generator before leaving or should I just do that when I return if the power goes out?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'm getting close to lockdown. I put the eggs in on the evening of 3/13/26. I read that I should count 3/14 as Day 1 instead of 3/13. If this is correct, then I should start lockdown on Tuesday 3/31/26.

Yeah, you want to say "1" when you put them in but what you are counting are days of incubation You do not have a day's incubation until the day after you put them in. An easy way to check your counting is the day of the week you start them is the day of the week the 21 days are up. Since you started them on a Friday, the 21 days are up on a Friday, April 3 in your case.

I think I'll stick to my scheduled lockdown for the evening of 4/1/26. That will be next time I candle the eggs

The reason you go into lockdown early is that the eggs can sometimes pip early. You do not want the incubator open after an egg has pipped. You want to raise the humidity before an egg pips. That's why we've settled on Day 18 for lockdown for chicken eggs.

Some people on this forum don't believe that at all. They continue opening the incubator willy nilly anyway. To be fair, bad things usually do not happen if you do open the incubator after 18 days. The way I look at it, why take an unnecessary risk? I know, some people live for the drama, but I don't. If I have an emergency I will open the incubator and deal with it. The risk of opening is fairly small. But I do not consider a routine candling to be an emergency. I routinely candle for the last time when I go into lockdown, which in your case would be the 31st.

I'm worried about a power outage while I'm away from home. How should I handle an outage once I return? I'm thinking that I could either put the incubator on a generator before leaving or should I just do that when I return if the power goes out?

I have no idea how likely an outage is. I don't know how long you will be gone. Will you be running the generator anyway or just for the incubator?

It has to be your decision but I would not worry if the power were off for a few hours. Overnight would worry me.

 

[Ezana4CE]

@Ridgerunner Thank you. Outages are hit or miss here depending upon that wind. The county has done a lot of cutting and mulching below and around power lines, but all it takes is on tree to fall. That's reassuring that a few hours won't hurt the eggs.

 

[Ezana4CE]

I am ready to see my chicks hatch!