so, this is my second time incubating, Day 3 and I candled, but not sure what I should be seeing

[mrwoodboat]

So like I stated, this is my 2nd time incubating. We got ok results from our 1st time and learned a lot so we are hoping to improve this time. We have a Havobator with a fan kit installed, temp is holding rock steady at 99.5, we added blue food coloring to the water to make it easier to monitor its level, egg turner is working like it should.
We read on here that we need to candle on certain days- today is day 3 and I made a candler from a long soup can and lamp socket, used a pc of fiberboard to cut a hole out for eggs to sit on. Most of my eggs are brown or green and we had to put a 75 watt lamp in to be able to see.
SO all the eggs look the same to me- there is an air pocket at the big end and a dark mass sitting more on one side right under the air pocket. IS this what I should be seeing on day 3? I know so little....help

 

[mshuntjump]

On day 3, you should only see a little veining branching out from a dark spot, and that dark spot is the eye of the embryo. However, on day 3, this should look very faint. But, I would recommend only candling on day 7, day 14, and day 18. That's all you need to candle to see proper developing and fertility.

 

[Redheads5]

I'm new to this as well and we finally had a successful hatch. I had no idea what I was looking at or looking for when I candelled. THEN I SAW IT!!!! But it wasn't until day 6 that I could see and especially 9-10 when I could see the baby jumping around. Be very careful when picking up and candelling in the early days, they are fragile.

 

[slschul3]

Just another quick injection, if your hatches continue to be low make sure to monitor the eggs weight. They should lose 13 percent of thier weight over the 21 day period. Just a suggestion, when you candle on day 7 and 14, weigh a few of the eggs to monitor weight loss. Make sure to get an initial start weight and write it down on the eggs. Good luck.