How early and how often do you candle your eggs?

[casslarrabee225]

Do you mean that it is good to open the incubator daily for air exchange? I was wondering about that. I open mine only half way to move the eggs. The temp hardly changes because I have them all on a thing that I move them all together.

I'm also curious about this..It makes sense to kind of re-circulate "fresh" air in. After all eggs under a Momma duck get "fresh" air when she gets up to do her business.

 

[wowmanacat]

I candle around day 3 to 5 then about 10 to 13 and again right before lock down. I don't take the first ones out till day 10 to 13 just to make sure for I am still kinda new at this and a lot of my eggs are hard to see into.

 

[ashleym]

i check mine every week when i add some water for humidity

 

[Alexia]

I'm a stay at home Momma so I'm here all day with the incubator and drive myself nuts wondering whats going on in those eggs! I start candling at day two. I am always able to see the germinal disc in the fertile eggs and I check for those. Then I check the progress every day usually when I get up in the morning then before I go to bed. How often do you check? Is there anything wrong with doing as often as I do?

I am the same way...a candleholic

 

[Julshernandez]

I am a stay at home mom too! LOL and the incubated eggs just sit there and stare at me!!!

 

[thebanthams]

Ive got 3 broody hens fighting over one nest!!! Last night I had to candle them , Ive got 6 fertilized eggs, they are due on February 26.

 

[luluann]

I am so glade I found this. I keep thinking it was 14 days.

 

[Barred4Life]

I candled my eggs like 5 times in 16 days

I'm reading this thinking --- OUPS! It's my first time and I kept reading different things and then checking my eggs, reading, checking, etc. I did wash my hands before handling eggs and hoping that protective coating (I forget how people word it) would protect the eggs as I didn't wash them prior to incubating. I must say I only had 1 egg that developed then had a blood ring, and 1 dropped (tried to put 'second skin' to save it because I read up on that - doesn't work, it eventually died too). The rest of the eggs I had to take out were due to infertility. My large fowl eggs were all fertile (my rooster likes his sexy time), my bantam were hit and miss (I have some d'Uccle and the rooster is not one to service his girls much). So I guess from my observation the main danger was ME! If you wash your hands, I don't think the bacteria should be a problem. I mean my broody hen can walk in poop and cover her eggs and she has got a spectacular success rate (last hatch was 100% on fertile eggs!!). It's really amazing isn't it?! Last time I candled my eggs (now they are too dark to see anything) I could see the embryos moving!! That's when I officially fell in love with candling!! Lol!
I've got a second batch of eggs in my second incubator...does that make me an addict?!

 

[199787]

Just a thought, but I noticed some of the embryos moved kind of spastically when I candled them. It just seems to me that throwing a really bright light on developing eyes might stress them some. I try to do it as little as possible.

 

[OrpObsessed]

I'm another stay at home mom..I obsessively check the thermometer and its day two on my new batch of engines and I'm itching to check them out...but I can never see anything till day seven so I'm going to resist. Though it doesn't help that my husband is just as obsessive as I am and comes up to me saying "have you checked your eggs today?