So I took a peek and not sure if I like what I see (I think)

[megnchicks]

I tried my hand at candling my eggs to see if I can see anything. They have been in the bator for 6 days now and I thought I would see something. I spent like an hour looking at 6 day fertile eggs on Google and I figured something would show up. I randomly picked up a few eggs (about 8) and took them to the bathroom (the darkest room we have right now) and used a mag light (high grade flashlight). I placed the egg into the top of a toilet paper roll and the flashlight on the other end. Out of all 8 eggs I think (think being the key word) I only saw veining in 1 egg. Is it just too early or did I mess up?

 

[silkiechicken]

It is possible that your light isn't bright enough for the eggs you are trying to look though. I use a 300 lumen flashlight myself. On brown eggs, many mag's aren't enough.

 

[carmeninthecountry]

Well how dark are the eggs? I use a LED light not anything special and I just hold the egg in my hand and candle them that may be easier on you I do not know... but if the eggs are dark you really have to look and know what to distinguish between a vein and something else.... and usually I let mine set for 14 days and then see if I can see something ...if they are dark eggs... any questions please ask

 

[megnchicks]

Hmmm, I will have to go to the store and get a better one than. I know this is the light my hubby used for Army stuff, but it is a little old. If I were to go to Walmart do you have a suggestion on brand, or what shoudl I ask a rep?

Megan

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:
I never had much luch with a maglight. I made a candler using a plant light housing, a 100 watt CFL & two beer coozies! It works pretty well. That said -- I had some eggs fool me candling on day 7... I couldn't believe that they were not developing & I left them in anyway. A week later, most of them were developing!! They're hatching right now. So glad I didn't toss them & now I wonder how many that would've been chicks I threw out prematurely. So wait & see... they may surprise you.

 

[megnchicks]

Quote:
I may have to look at your technique. I wasn't going to throw them out by any means. I am one of those people that will waita nd wait and hope and hope to see if things get better. So maybe by day 12/13 they may get thrown out. LOL.

 

[tgrlily]

Quote:
I may have to look at your technique. I wasn't going to throw them out by any means. I am one of those people that will waita nd wait and hope and hope to see if things get better. So maybe by day 12/13 they may get thrown out. LOL.

I'm now waiting till day 14. Not a bad thing to be hopeful!

I think I'm going to invest in an actual candler. I can barely see through my white Ameraucana eggs.

 

[Rooster'swife]

I made mine out of a small box. I cut a hole in bottom of box and put a 75 watt bulb in desk lamp and cut a small hole in top to set the egg on and it worked real good in dark room.

 

[suburbanchickymama]

I bet your light just isn't bright enough. I'm on day 7 (my 1st time!) and I was freaking out that I killed all the eggs - I had candled on day 5 and could see lots of veining and then yesterday and today I could barely see anything. Not sure why. But after looking at this great candling thread I found a big ol' spotlight style flashlight and put it in a box and cut ahole in it with a bit of paper towel roll stuck in it and it works like a charm! You can see the little chickies dance around in there and everything! I could even see that my Marans eggs were developing. And I'm glad I did it because I did have 3 bad eggs. Just to be sure I put them in a ziplock and cracked them open and sure enough they had that red blood ring that I've read about. So I'm glad I avoided a possible stinky explosion!!! Good luck!!!

 

[jenlynn4]

I always use a mini mag flashligh...there work super...Just hold the egg in your hand and shine the light against the fat end of the egg where the air cell is...you should be able to see easily unless they are dark shelled eggs.

Here are some pics I took showing clear and fertile eggs at about a week incubation:

FERTILE:

CLEAR: