Using thermal to detect dead eggs

[PartiPoodles]

Wanted to post this since there may be others who have a thermal camera. I can’t believe I haven’t thought of using it for pulling dead eggs out of an incubator until today. The dead eggs will have a noticeable difference in thermal temps compared to the live ones.

The pic attached is of a batch of quail eggs on day 12. The dead eggs appear on a very different thermal color. Same should be true for chicken eggs.

There was a horrid smell coming from what was obviously dead eggs mixed in with the live ones incubating. So I used my thermal camera in video mode to make sure I selected the dead eggs out of the incubator.

The thermal cameras come as independent units or as attachable units to a iPhone or Android phone. The one I’m using is a Seek Thermal Compact Pro XR for iPhone.

 

[Kung_pao]

This could be really useful for dark eggs like Marans. Genius idea!

 

[nuthatched]

Can you post the difference between a live and dead egg, please?

 

[BastyPutt]

Can you post the difference between a live and dead egg, please?

 

[PartiPoodles]

The pic above shows it, albeit I could have manually adjusted the focus better on this pic attached or used a different thermal color spectrum.

The dead eggs are the ones showing up as green or yellow in the pic attached, compared to the red/white of the eggs next to it. The far left side of the pic has a vertical color bar showing the colors of the temp range from 94 to 107 degrees.

The video I took of using it to pick out the dead ones is here:

Unfortunately, since I already cleared out the dead eggs I wouldn’t be able to do another pic. I’ll remember to take pics in different color spectrums on the next batch of quail or chickens that I incubate, along with the closeups. The difference is a stark contrast that makes it fast and easy to pull the dead ones.

 

[BastyPutt]

The pic above shows it, albeit I could have manually adjusted the focus better on this pic attached or used a different thermal color spectrum.

The dead eggs are the ones showing up as green or yellow in the pic attached, compared to the red/white of the eggs next to it. The far left side of the pic has a vertical color bar showing the colors of the temp range from 94 to 107 degrees.

The video I took of using it to pick out the dead ones is here:

Unfortunately, since I already cleared out the dead eggs I wouldn’t be able to do another pic. I’ll remember to take pics in different color spectrums on the next batch of quail or chickens that I incubate, along with the closeups. The difference is a stark contrast that makes it fast and easy to pull the dead ones.

Oh I understand the first pic now. That is a group of eggs. This makes sense.

 

[Theorrin]

genius idea!!!

 

[PartiPoodles]

Another thing I noticed and learned was that more than a few of the eggs had a noticeable temp difference in the air sac portion of the egg. However, it was still easy enough to tell by the rest of the egg being as warm as the others.

Note to add: Having this many unfertilized eggs was actually expected. My female to male ratio is a little high right now (8:1) in their temporary home, while I finish building out the new quail condo high rise for them and will be able to get it down to a 4:1. The temporary home seems big enough because there hasn’t been any fatalities from the 9 males fighting while being in the same cage.

 

[Salt and timbers]

Brilliant idea! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[FunClucks]

This is genius!!! I've heard multiple times that folks can't tell about Marans eggs, or look through dark colored or colored egg shells to candle them and see if they're developing, so you have to sit and wait to see if those are bad, and this application of technology solves that problem! I think you should totally write an article about this idea, that way it won't get lost over time, and more folks might be able to benefit from it. There is an open article contest right now, actually, if you're interested. Contest ends June 22nd.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/official-byc-article-writing-contest-19.1558165/