What a I looking for when candling?

With eggs that have not yet been incubated, you will look for only a few things.

First that none of the eggs are cracked or chipped. That will show up as a sharp line or a star crack, like a broken windshield, when candling.

Next is the size and location of the air cell. It should be at the fat end of the egg, and should not move when you rotate the egg. It is a much lighter spot, on a fresh egg smaller than a dime, and defined with a visible line. It should stay put. If not, you need to keep the eggs fat end up for a day or so without moving before you put them under the broody. Set them all at once.

As for the yolk, you should see a uniform shadow within the egg, an area that is slightly darker. It could be anywhere within the white, up next to the air cell or down at the pointed end. If you don't see a shadow (which is often difficult with dark eggs), set them anyhow.

I would not set a cracked egg. If I had a chipped egg, I'd seal the chip, mark the egg, and watch it carefully. Chipped eggs are more prone to infection.

If in doubt, set them. If an egg starts to ooze or you smell any odors, candle and inspect the eggs again. Toss any stinkers or oozers. Your broody may do it for you.

 

this is day 2 although you should not be candling at day 2 but you would see a little red circle...

day 3 you may just see a red line I don't tell new candlers to candle until day 5...


below is day 5 looks like a spider, day six you could see and eye...


below is day 8 it starts to get darker, soon you will only beable to see into air cell,


below is day 18 egg has a slope, and you can see fluids, and veins just near the top of egg.






I don't advise candling after day 18 it goes into lock down and you just wait for them to hatch.

 

I have 20 (brown) chicken eggs in a bator (forced air). RH 42% steady. Temp 96-97* steady. 3 eggs stored 3 days,7 for 2 days, 10 for 1 day. all about 60* storage temp. Set 3/15/15 6:30 pm local. Candled at 11:00 am local 3/20/15.

Those pics above are great, thank you. I saw nothing. I've never done it before. any suggestions would be appreciated. I did put them all back in just in case.

 

Temp should be 99-100.

 

Second that, temperature seems to be low

 

I'll try to raise the temp again,I let it settle at 96-97 because at a higher temp the fluctuation was around 6*. I figured the lower temp would just delay hatch a day or so. Thanks for the comments.

 

UDATE: 9th day in. 15 bouncing baby embryos. 2 blood rings,1 yolker, 2 to be determined. Thanks to all who commented and or posted pics in the past. research here and on the web helped greatly. Thanks. BTW I didn't think I'd get as excited as my 3 sons did. So much for that thought