To candle or not to candle?

[connieconnie]

My friend candled last night on day 13 then after that no more candling because were getting close to hatch day. May 5th-7th is hatching days

Got that app too! But it does tell to candle quite a few times, so I thought I should check. So basically the less candling the better? Did you friend do a candle before her lock down candle aswell? Thank you for the help

 

[cmom]

Oh my goodness you got me so distracted on the cuteness of that photo! Those fluffy legs what breed?

I candled a lot on my first batch (quite literally every 2 days ), and my hatch suffered. So does that mean you only candle twice throughout the whole incubation? Wow, I really did over candle! This is really helpful thank you!

The chick is a Rhode Island Red. It was holding it wings down and looks like feathered legs in the picture but is clean legged. I think most people who start hatching candle a lot. I did too. I realized, what will be will be and no matter how often you candle the outcome will be the same. Remember one thing, a broody will get off of her nest daily to eat, drink and poop and yet the eggs still hatch. When I go into lock-down, I try not to open the hatcher but if I do I usually mist the eggs with warm water to help bring the humidity back up a little quicker. Good luck and have fun...

 

[gpresdo]

Be careful with the amount of ink on a hatching egg. It could be toxic to a embryo.
Use a very small ...dot system for ID......on the egg side....with a hard paper copy for reference ID. Stay away from the ends.
We clean eggs at start of incubation with 3% hydrogen peroxide and use latex gloves for handling eggs when candling.

 

[Knighstar679]

I am a daily or every other day candler. I just like watching the growth in my eggs. I do duck eggs and let them cool once a day and candle during that. If I have really bad shipped eggs I do it every other day starting around day 3-4.
I was just shipped a set of eggs that came through beautiful with nice air cell. But the set before that the package got lost for two days and half the eggs had detach air cells. I let them incubate sitting up for three days before moving them to a side turner.

 

[connieconnie]

Be careful with the amount of ink on a hatching egg. It could be toxic to a embryo.
Use a very small ...dot system for ID......on the egg side....with a hard paper copy for reference ID. Stay away from the ends.
We clean eggs at start of incubation with 3% hydrogen peroxide and use latex gloves for handling eggs when candling.

I use pencil, as I wasn't sure what pen would be okay to use.

Interesting! I didn't even think of cleaning them (as I was so worried I wipe away their natural barrier), but I suppose you spray or dip them in the solution? I'll definitely do that next hatch, thank you I always use latex gloves before handing, as well as washing hands and hand sanitizer. I'm just trying my hardest to increase my hatch rate, I feel so guilty about the eggs that die! Plus posting hatching eggs is expensive

Thank you for all the help and advice

 

[connieconnie]

I am a daily or every other day candler. I just like watching the growth in my eggs. I do duck eggs and let them cool once a day and candle during that. If I have really bad shipped eggs I do it every other day starting around day 3-4.
I was just shipped a set of eggs that came through beautiful with nice air cell. But the set before that the package got lost for two days and half the eggs had detach air cells. I let them incubate sitting up for three days before moving them to a side turner.

I did that for my first hatch (was just so curious about the growth), but I must be more clumsy than you, and not as expert of a candler, as my hatch rate really suffered It's nice to know that in the future (if I get more expert with candling and handling the eggs) I can candle them whenever I'm curious

I'm on day 10 now, they've been sitting pointy end down in a carton and still have detached air sacks! Think the eggs I got send either were old or really roughly handled in the post So just been turning by hand gently, and hopefully they'll secure themselves by day 18 lockdown!

Thank you for the help

 

[Knighstar679]

I did that for my first hatch (was just so curious about the growth), but I must be more clumsy than you, and not as expert of a candler, as my hatch rate really suffered It's nice to know that in the future (if I get more expert with candling and handling the eggs) I can candle them whenever I'm curious

I'm on day 10 now, they've been sitting pointy end down in a carton and still have detached air sacks! Think the eggs I got send either were old or really roughly handled in the post So just been turning by hand gently, and hopefully they'll secure themselves by day 18 lockdown!

Thank you for the help

Detached air cells can be tricky and often very frustrating. I have 5 that I lost for sure out of the 12 I received. I have one more that might not make it with a really bad air cell that’s more than a simple saddle cell.

 

[gpresdo]

I use pencil, as I wasn't sure what pen would be okay to use.

Interesting! I didn't even think of cleaning them (as I was so worried I wipe away their natural barrier), but I suppose you spray or dip them in the solution? I'll definitely do that next hatch, thank you I always use latex gloves before handing, as well as washing hands and hand sanitizer. I'm just trying my hardest to increase my hatch rate, I feel so guilty about the eggs that die! Plus posting hatching eggs is expensive

Thank you for all the help and advice

We spray HP 3% for 100% coverage...very light spray, then we blot the accumulated drain ends on a very clean cloth wipe.
We have increased our hatch rate.

 

[connieconnie]

Detached air cells can be tricky and often very frustrating. I have 5 that I lost for sure out of the 12 I received. I have one more that might not make it with a really bad air cell that’s more than a simple saddle cell.

I have the same with 6 of my eggs, think there might be only one that makes it but I hope it does Good luck with yours too!

 

[connieconnie]

We spray HP 3% for 100% coverage...very light spray, then we blot the accumulated drain ends on a very clean cloth wipe.
We have increased our hatch rate.

Thank you so much! That's really helpful definitely going to do that with my batch!
Can you do it half way through an incubation?