I tried to candle my coturnix eggs.

[chickchick4963]

If they are perfectly clear at day 10 I bet they are infertile

 

[laseterlass]

With the exception of one type of Coturnix I seem to be doing pretty well, (knock on wood), that type only 6 of 30 are dark. I found a small key chain light and wrapping my fist just so around the light and egg in a dark room is working very well.

 

[drowe005]

Within 2-3 days, you can see veins appearing in the egg when candled. This is usually when I like to check for fertility. You can wait later as others said, such as 7-10 days, but you won't see veins then, just a dark mass. Be sure your in a dark room when candling; the darker the room, the better you'll see it.

The way I candle:
With my left hand, make a circle with the tips of my pointer finger and thumb touching( like your making an OK sign). Make the "circle" an appropriate size for the egg your candling, and place the egg there. With my fingers forming a tight seal around the egg, I take a flashlight with my right hand and place it underneath and up against the egg.

(I can take a picture if I didn't describe this good enough for you to understand)

Its best to first candle an egg that hasn't been incubated yet if your a newbie. It will really help you when candling to have a baseline to compare too. It is very clear which eggs are fertile and which aren't once you realize what you're looking at.

 

[rllupien]

So yesterday was day 7 and I decided to try candling with my iPhone light. I was able to decipher that 6 of mine are growing and one had a crack. The cracked one I took out and opened and it wasn't developing, which was good because when I candled it didn't look like anything was going on! I was so excited, because I've never been able to really see anything before.

 

[robopetz]

Doesn't the iphone light work great. I'm so bummed. I candled last night and accidentky dropped one good developing egg. I felt so BAD! I normally put down a blanket soft enough that if I accidentky drop them they will be fine. But last night I didn't cause I had used it to cover up my bird cage. Grrrrt!

 

[rllupien]

Yes! I hadn't even thought to put the egg in the little "cradle" that my case makes for the light (like you said). I was super excited if you can't tell! Bummer that you dropped the egg :-(

 

[robopetz]

That's good! I forget what type of quail are you hatching? I have buttons and I have some due in 3 days.

 

[rllupien]

Coturnix. They're due to hatch on the 14th.

 

[robopetz]

Nice! I ordered coturnix and should be here soon. Will be my first shipped eggs.

 

[jwatts]

I should be getting about 100-120 coturnix off a farmer on saturday... How long should i let them sit before putting them in the incu?