Hatching Green/Blue eggs

[HOBBYFARMER78]

Can anyone tell me, is it more difficult to hatch colored eggs than white? I have had a couple unsuccessful attempts with a broody hen. Do I need an incubator? Is there an easy way of candeling these eggs? I have made a box with black tape wrapped around it, with a flashlight inside. I still cannot get any light penetration into the egg. suggestions?? thanks in advance

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I've not experienced any more difficulty with eggs with blue/green shells than with eggs of other colors. What type of flash light are you using for the candler? The pigment on these shells often requires an upgrade to the light source, but they can still be candled.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Did you egg-topsy any of the failed hatches to see whether development had taken place and, if it did, when it stopped? That information is beneficial in sorting out possible causes of failed hatches. Were the colored eggs the only eggs those broodies had or did you set a mixed clutch - if mixed clutch, did any of the other eggs hatch leaving only the colored eggs?

 

[HOBBYFARMER78]

I placed 4 eggs from two hens under the broody hen. I did try and candle them to no avail, so I left them for 28 days total. when I decided to pull them from her 2 were unfertilized and two had not made it from very early stages. I have a couple more under a hen right now, I have not tried to candle these as I didn't have success on the previous ones. these eggs are going on 14 days or so now. I guess I will wait and see what becomes of them, ;-)

 

[HOBBYFARMER78]

I have been using the flashlight on my iphone, I am thinking I should try an LED flashlight that has a few more lumens.

 

[eviemethugh]

I use my iphone, my trick is to point the light into the air cell and you can just see into the top of the thickest dark colored eggs.

 

[Kev]

No difference in hatching.

with green/blue it might help to gain some experience. Some of them are easy to candle, some are not so easy.. I use a regular flashlight and only look for the contrast between the airspace and the contents. In fertile and live eggs, the contrast is sharper- really bright airspace with well defined border of darker egg contents.. in infertiles and embryonic deaths the border between airspace and content is not sharp, either a graudal change in shading or a fuzzy border. Other times if you find a blood vein that's easy to see, of course it means the egg is fertile but you use the contrast to tell if it's alive or dead. Well defined vein, alive.

There is no real reason to try so hard to see the actual embryo itself in any egg, really. The presence of veins or the darkening typical of embryonic presence should be good enough for candling.