We just candled our eggs.... no clue!

[huckleberryfarm]

Me and my two little children just candled our eggs... day 7. Some of them looked like nothing. Some looked dark half way down the egg. Based on the pictures I've seen on here, we were looking for veins and stuff. Since half looked one way and half the other, I'm assuming one half is what we want. Any thoughts? Plus I think I broke one during the process. The shell kind of broke but nothing came out. Should I just throw that one away? Not sure how deep the crack was. I hate the dividers on this dumb incubator! They are so stiff! My children went to bed so defeated but I tried to assure them that since they looked different, some of them have to be good!

 

[Paganbird]

By day 7, you should be able to see something like this:

What are you using to candle the eggs?
In my opinion, the easiest way to see veining if you're new to candling is:
1. cup the light in your hand so that no light can shine around the egg.
2. Hold the egg pointy-end-down and shine the light in from above.
3. Look around the edge of the air sac for light pinkish lines - that will be veining.

A dark shadow that moves around when you candle is the yolk.
This is a bloodring:

If you see a bloodring, the embryo has died.

Here is a live embryo at 4-5 days:

I use a 120 lumen light to candle my eggs. Maybe your light isn't bright enough.
Good luck with your hatch.

ETA: corrected my typos

 

[huckleberryfarm]

I think the light I bought today is 300 lumens so it's bright. Maybe too bright. We took a piece of cardboard and cut a hole and put the egg on that and the light underneath. I had read about the bloodring. Does it only show up on pics or in real life? My kids were not so patient so I didn't really look for a long time. Just got an impression. I might try again tomorrow!

 

[TheFarmMama]

The eggs that looked dark halfway down...leave them in. We put in 3 of our brown eggs this past December that when candled had the same look you're describing. It was like nothing around the air sac, then a dark ring in the middle and dark at the bottom. I was unsure if they were good or not since we couldn't see any veining initially but a few weeks later out popped 3 adorable chicks! Are your eggs white or brown? The blood ring really will show up when candling. It's like a dark red, thin ring that goes around the circumference of the egg.

 

[huckleberryfarm]

Thanks, everyone. We're about to try again. They are silkie eggs so they are white. If we're not sure, we'll just keep them and hope for the best!

 

[enola]

Further in their development there will be a couple of days when the embryo will look like a spider in there !