Should I candle before I set?

[donnap1967]

I am letting them rest on a shelf in my bedroom. I will probably put them in the incubator tomorrow evening when I get home from work. That will be a little over 24 hrs resting time. Is that ok? I figured then I will be home when 21 days hits and I will have the weekend to watch the late hatches if any.

I held a flashlight over each one briefly and I can't see anything...i.e. an air cell or anything. I can see into them ok, just can't distinguish any color variance that might be an air cell. Should I see anything???

 

[donnap1967]

Looked again this morning but I can't tell if there is an air cell and if it moves or not. I guess I will set them after work and hope for the best.

*Crosses fingers*

 

[Katy]

I usually candle before I set them, just because it can help you catch hairline cracks. The fact that you can't see an aircell is good...it means they're fresh.

 

[Guitartists]

LOL I know, I was worried when I couldn't see an air cell in my eggs. But it will develope in time

I candled mine before setting.... didn't find any cracks. At day 7 I candled and found some that were not developing and day 10 I had some clears that were no good and I candled on day 17 and marked all of the air cells with a pencil (some of my eggs were rounder than others) and placed them air cell up in a carton for hatching. I will definetly mark the air cells from now on... helps ease my mind as to which end is which... and some were slightly cock-eyed.

I did have one that showed a small crack on like day 10.... but it was growing fine so I left it. You know, I forgot to mark it so I am not sure if it is one that hatched or not.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

My understanding is that you need to let them sit at room temp with large end up for 6-8 hours before putting in the bator. Certainly you'll be fine setting them tonight. As far as the air cell, I have found that in very fresh eggs, the air cell can be quite small at the large end. Hold your flashlight along the side of the egg toward the large end. You should be able to see a small darker circle. This is the air cell. It will begin to get larger as the embryo grows and will be more obvious. If it stays too small, your humidity is too high...if too large, your humidity is too low. Look at this link...it was very helpful to me.

url] http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/Embryology/candling.shtml

 

[Eggseronious]

I think its a good thing to candle before setting. You can catch things and make notes, well thats what I do.

I candled 18 yesterday and found 2 that had spider web fractures that you cant see unless they are candled since I numbered them I have made notes of this, also I found one that could have bacteria not for sure but made note of it. It helps to be able to refer back to notes after the hatch. I also let shipped eggs sit for 8hrs or so before setting them.