Help me understand what I saw when I candled my eggs

[Hens_And_Chicks]

I set my eggs in the bator on Saturday evening. After finding BYC this week and seeing all the posts about new chicks and all those that are currently expected, I could not wait any longer and candled my eggs tonight. I have 15 Light Brahma eggs - 2 appear to be pullet eggs due to their size. There is a variety of color on the shells but here is what it appeared to reveal:

The lightest shelled egg has a red ring - is that a bad egg? As in non fertile?

Two eggs show nothing at all - just transluscent/lots of speckling on the shell

A couple showed black spots so I am not sure if those are bad eggs or if that is the embryo - they moved when I tilted the eggs.

Of the remaining, I can see the veining starting - I'm so excited - my hatch is scheduled for March 14th!

 

[freddy22]

pictures would really be helpful if possible, a red ring could just be the air cell, the ones that were transluscent MAY not be fertile, but obviously the veining is good

 

[Pumpkinpup]

Sounds like you have one with a blood ring, possibly a bad egg.
The clear ones are most likely not fertile.
The ones with dark spots could be bad or could be embryos but it's hard to tell without pics.
The veining is good! Viable eggs that should develope

Give it a few more days and candle again before discarding anything.

 

[lilbreeches]

do the ones with dark spots have veins too? i agree that you should wait a few more day. we are due a hatch here a day before you and i have 3 eggs i am not giving up on yet although i am pretty sure they are duds. never give up hope until you are certain.

 

[Hens_And_Chicks]

The ones with the dark spots look like they have veins - it's just way to early to make decisions - I'm not in the expert category but it looks like 12 of the 15 have veins developing. I'll have to see if I can figure out how to get some pictures.

 

[daisychick]

the black spots could very well be embryos! I could hardly see veins that early in my eggs but I did see the dark eye spots of the embryos and yes they moved around a lot! It is so amazing to see. I would say wait for a few more days and check again....it is really early to tell for sure.

 

[MichiganWoods]

Here are some photos from when we had our first hatch in November. This might help you figure out what's going on.

This is a viable egg at 6 days:

Though I questioned whether it was veining or a bloodring (see the scribbles on the egg), it was later verified to be a blood ring:

And when you get to Day 12-14, your viable eggs will look something like this:

 

[Tuffoldhen]

I will add those are great pics to show you what you should be looking for. If you do question an egg mark it with a ? mark and wait til the next times candling to see if there is growth or development in the egg.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
GREAT pics! Would you please say what you used for candling? I had a hard time getting enough light with my hatch. Thank you!

 

[MichiganWoods]

Certainly!

I bought a super cell LED flash light with the highest Lumens I could find. This particular flash light is labeled "Element K2".