Very New to this and need advice!

[treycie]

So we decided to incubate some eggs for a science project. Silly me thought it would be easy.... anyhow we are on day 6? yesterday i candled for the 2nd time a couple that worried me... and decided to take them out. as i have read that bad eggs can explode and what not... well i also was curious and cracked one open.... it was for sure fertile but i couldnt see any veins during candling... so i might have killed an embryo... anyone else have this happen?? i had 12 eggs now 11. and honestly only see veins in 1... but since there was an embryo in the one from last night i wonder if i just cant see veins??? please help thanks !!

 

[Bradfordj]

So we decided to incubate some eggs for a science project. Silly me thought it would be easy.... anyhow we are on day 6? yesterday i candled for the 2nd time a couple that worried me... and decided to take them out. as i have read that bad eggs can explode and what not... well i also was curious and cracked one open.... it was for sure fertile but i couldnt see any veins during candling... so i might have killed an embryo... anyone else have this happen?? i had 12 eggs now 11. and honestly only see veins in 1... but since there was an embryo in the one from last night i wonder if i just cant see veins??? please help thanks !!

Incubating isnt as hard as people lead on. I feel a lot of people's first mistake is patience! Let them be and do their thing. I have bever had an egg explode or heard of it personally. Give it a couple days. There are so many factors that could slow the growth or make it difficult to see when candling. My advice is patience and as little human intervention as possible. Hope this helps.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

So we decided to incubate some eggs for a science project. Silly me thought it would be easy.... anyhow we are on day 6? yesterday i candled for the 2nd time a couple that worried me... and decided to take them out. as i have read that bad eggs can explode and what not... well i also was curious and cracked one open.... it was for sure fertile but i couldnt see any veins during candling... so i might have killed an embryo... anyone else have this happen?? i had 12 eggs now 11. and honestly only see veins in 1... but since there was an embryo in the one from last night i wonder if i just cant see veins??? please help thanks !!

While eggs exploding does happen, I had one that would have exploded on me if the membrane hadn't been so strong:

it is not as common as you think. A good share of the "bad eggs" you can tell by blood ring or they start smelling. I never remove an egg (unless it has blood ring) until day ten. On day 10 I candle and remove my clears. Sometimes it's hard to see (especially with darker shelled eggs) until later and some like your dark brown maran and your dark greens you'll never see much of anything except the air cells.

My philosophy is not to take anything but my clears and bloodrings out unless it smells. Of course if I am on day 14 and I have one that obviously quite at day 5 ish....I'll remove it.

My advice, mark air cells on day 7, then if you are comfortable doing it remove clears on day 10, if not leave them be until you mark air cells again on day 14. By then you'll know for certain. If you get a bad smell, sniff it out and remove the egg.

 

[treycie]

is there a better way to candle darker eggs. the ones I have are brown and a few greens. or do i just need a brighter light ? we've used a 60 watt light and most brown eggs look clear maybe just the yolk but havnt been able to see the green ones

 

[AmyLynn2374]

is there a better way to candle darker eggs. the ones I have are brown and a few greens. or do i just need a brighter light ? we've used a 60 watt light and most brown eggs look clear maybe just the yolk but havnt been able to see the green ones

The brighter the light the more you are going to see. There's a thread here with some great "home made" candlers I'll see if I can find it for you. It has different things people have used. (I just use a flashlight and cup my hand around the egg&light. usually works for me, but I've only had a couple that I really couldn't see into.)

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Here's one with a few ideas: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/131504/home-made-egg-candler-post-your-pics/40