First time going to hatch eggs, advice please

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15shenyl said:
This is going to sound dumb but..how do you candle an egg?
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https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

CANDLE EGGS
DAY 1
Always wash hands before handling eggs.
The shell of an egg is thin and opaque when held near a bright light. The easiest type of egg to candle is the white shelled egg and some of the hardest eggs to candle are dark brown eggs, like the Maran eggs pictured below.​

You could try two or more flashlights to see into them!



​


Candle days are 1, 7, 14 & 18th day
You will need a Candler, bright light, LED flashlight or build your own Candler. Find Instructions HERE. https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-to-make-a-homemade-egg-candler-using-common-household-materials
Turn on your Candler and shut off the lights in the room so it is dark, evenings are best. Hold the flashlight/Candler like the image below and set the egg air cell/fat end down on your hand. This will prevent any light leakage from the flashlight. Your hand protects the egg from the hard surface of the light and helps more of the light to go through the egg.
LL


CAUTION: Be very careful when you handle the egg
so you don't accidentally crack it or DROP it!

Slowly & gently rotate the egg until you can see inside the egg. On Day 1 candling you will mark air cells and check for cracked or porous eggs. Lightly mark the air cell with a pencil. It’s not a good idea to light the embryo a long time especially if the light gets hot, you will kill the embryo. On Day 1 candle you will NOT see much inside the egg but you may have a glimpse of yolk moving as you gently rotate lightly colored eggs.​

 
Thanks to everyone! I hope I will have at least 1 egg hatch, I know it's never a guarantee. I have one hen that I think is just done being broody, hopefully she will still be broody by the time the eggs get here. How many days can a fertilized egg still be able to grow before a hen starts to sit on them. Will they be good for 10 days, or more or less?
 
Ok, I think that leaves enough time. The person I got them from sends them at 4 days and shipping is about 2 or 3 I think, that should give me enough time to get a hen on them.
 
I actually dont live in Yakima, I live in Grandview. I put Yakima bacause most people dont know where Grandview is and sence Yakima is close to Grandview, it works out ok.
 
Take a pencil and draw a line completely around the egg. This does two things. No matter how the egg turns you can see from a glance that it is marked. It also tells you this is one of the eggs you want to hatch. If other hens are laying in the same nest you can just check daily and remove the unmarked eggs. The way to tell if you have a broody hen is if she spends 3 nights on the nest you can probably trust her to stay on the nest and hatch the eggs. But it isn't guaranteed. I had a RIR pullet that spent 3 nights on the nest only to leave it after a week and let the eggs get cold.
 
Today I got an incubator! The school was giving them to the teachers who wanted them. My FFA teacher herd about it and took all the incubators and she gave me one! Now I don't have to have my hens hatch them. Thank you to my FFA teacher and to all the other FFA teachers and supporters of FFA students, you all make our lives wonderful!
 

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