So these eggs I have I am unsure of. They are all brown except 2 which are green. Those of you that candle the brown eggs. So far I"ve only gotten a redish glow through the whole egg maybe a dark little shadow its hard to tell. Am I correct to assume that by day 18 I should not be seeing hardly any the redish glow through the egg correct? What about green? Do both those colors still work at mostly seeing a huge shadow of a chick? I want to know if I should open these. I don't smell anything but tomorrow is my final candle before lockdown...I need to be sure or I"m going to have a nasty mess when I'm done. BTW I've looked at the candling pictures but seems everyone has white eggs... just need to make sure the picture should look close to that given brown or green eggs.
At day 18 you should just see a dark mass and an air sac. You might see movement, but then you might not. With a really good candling set-up and experience, you could see more, but for many of us, that's all we see. Do the sniff test, then quit worrying about them exploding if you don't smell something. If bacteria is inside the egg, it will multiply and cause a problem. If bacteria is not inside the egg, it will not multiply, so the egg will not explode. It does not matter if the egg is developing or not. An egg with a developing chick in it will still have huge problem if bacteria is inside. If bacteria is not inside, an egg that is not developing will not explode. Trust your nose.
I just leave the "unsures" in with the others at lockdown. I candle and remove all stinkers or anyone who I can clearly tell has not developed for certain (it's clear and I can see no blobs or it obviously has a blood ring). Otherwise, if I'm not sure of the eggs status I will leave it in. The first hatch I did was White Leghorns and even with their white eggs I was still unsure about a few. This time I have light brown eggs and they have very thick shells and I am having a difficult time telling for certain where we are developmentally - so unless they start stinking - and you'll know if they stink - there's no mistaking it - I just leave them all in there until hatch or Day 24 whichever happens first.
I use a shop lamp. I put foil on the inside of the cardboard with a 65 watt halogen bulb. I have dark eggs too. Click on image. This is an egg at day 10.
Ok, I just couldn't wait till the morning, I had to know. Out of the 9 remaining eggs only 1 was good. There was a definite dark mass and an air sac. I tried to see if it was moving but couldn't tell. My hubby had brought me his mag light. I also couldn't wait till morning so went out in my slippers and cracked open the eggs. None looked fertile and non smelled. Some I could see candling were runny this time inside when before they weren't. I seriously hope this one chick makes it. It will get spoiled rotten! I guess we will see in a few days what happens. The air sac seems like it should be bigger but we will see. Thanks for all the comments. This is my first hatch but have more eggs waiting in the wings to go in! Wish me luck!
