First timer incubating chicken eggs Help

[glwchickens]

I purchased a new incubator on the 21 of May, it is the pro series circulated air
incubator and on the 22nd. I started with 15 eggs I collected from my golden
laced wyandottes, I am new to this, could someone tell me what to use to candle
my eggs and how many days should I wait before candling my eggs.
I have checked a couple but I do not think the light is strong enough, then of
course after almost 4 days, what can you expect to see.

Thank you for your help,
Darle

 

[Farmer Viola]

hello and welcome!

my wyandotte's eggs are a very light tan color. they are pretty good eggs to candle, much closer to white than some others. what color are yours?
I wait to candle until day 7, there isn't much to see before that. I write down any that I think are clear/not developing and check them again on day 10, throwing them away if they are still clear. by day 10 there is a definite dark spot (the eye) and spider like veins that you cannot mistake for a clear egg.
by day 14, about half the egg is dark with chick body. the top near the air cell is still liquidy, and the bottom is clear also (the yolk) and the chick is around the center area.
by day 18, the egg is really full almost black, some clear and veins around the air cell line.
right before hatch the clear area will disappear, consumed by the chick's body. the air cell also starts to dip down the side right before hatch, day 19ish. internal pip around day 20, and external pip day 21.

I had a special flashlight that came with my incubator for candling eggs. it recently burned out. now I have been using the light (flash) on my samsung galaxy s3. I turn the light on to stay on, then hold it up to the shell near the top/air cell and I can see in very well!

 

[glwchickens]

Our eggs range from lite tan to brown, the egg shells are pretty thick and large, sometimes
it is hard to tell which end should be placed down?
I am going to make something to candle my eggs with, I have a piece of PVC pipe and flashlight
right now and I am not real happy about using that combo, I don't want to take a chance of
cracking any eggs.
If my ideal works, I will have to post some photos and list the material used.
Thank you for the information on candling the eggs.
I hope all of the eggs hatch out.

 

[glwchickens]

Well it has been a while since I have posted to the forum, been a little busy, I had to
build a small coop for 4 RIR's that we purchased around April 5, then I built a small
brooder for some more Wyandottes that we hatched from our small flock, five hatched
yesterday and are in the brooder today with another trying to hatch out today, we
also fenced off a larger area for our birds which required 300 feet of fencing and
16 fence post made from Cedar Trees on our farm.

We started out with 15 eggs in our incubator, 6 were clear, it looks like we will have
six new chicks out of the 15, providing number 6 gets out of the shell and I guess
3 died in the shell??

We finished fencing off the new area and moving our 1 year old birds on Monday,
the RIRs are fenced in close enough for the older birds to get acquainted with
their future coop mates. All of the RIRs were suppose to be hens, how ever
I believe 1 is a rooster. We did have a very nasty Wyandotte rooster, he was
very good at attacking anyone that entered the coop area, we no longer
have that problem bird.

 

[Farmer Viola]

That's fantastic! Having a securely fenced area for them is very nice for peace of mind, especially if you have any neighborhood dogs that roam unleashed like I do! sorry to hear that one of your RIR girls turned out to be a boy, but they do make great dumplings!