My candling equipment and skills are still poor at best. I'm working on it, but I'm still pretty insecure. Today is day 10, and my best guess is that I've got 3 out of 6 that are good. I know I candle again on day 14, and that by then a good candling should tell the story, but....how long can I dither around being unsure whether the problem is with my candling or with the eggs. By the way these 6 are Ameraucanas.... Thanks for your help. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt for as long as possible, but I do NOT want to risk a rotten egg explosion. Susan
I guess it depends on when the egg goes bad...I had three eggs that did not hatch...one exploded during my hatch, two were duds....no more giving them benefit of the doubt...well, maybe but they will be isolated. *Go to YOUR ROOM, Egg*...no, seriously, I talk big now because I can still smell rotten egg, but I know what Vamp-a-Billy is talking about. I have had eggs I didnt think were good actually hatch. I have EE eggs due to hatch on Tuesday, along with my Silkies...*whee*.. none are clear. I already disposed of those. The dark ones, in my head, are developing. I have only candled one time. I will candle them again when I put them in the hatcher. Any liquidy looking eggs won't go in.
I've been told that if they are not seeping, don't smell, and have diffently started to develope you can leave them and watch them.
I do not candle my eggs at all unless there is one I think looks or smells suspicious. A bad egg will stink and/or ooze before it explodes. I just take a quick glance and sniff every day, removing stinky ones, and have never had one explode yet. Kristina
With my quail eggs I CAN'T candle them... I have 89 eggs in there, and cannot tell which ones are making the offensive odor. They're due to go in the hatcher tomorrow... should I sniff each one as I put it in the hatcher and toss any that smell worse than the others? (some of them were still kind of poopie, and I couldn't get it all off without scrubbing hard!)
If you sniff them individually - you will be able to tell which one is bad for sure. It is a very strong, offensive odor. the neighboring eggs might have a slight smell because of proximity - but once you sniff the bad one you'll know. Good luck!
I'm big on sniffing and have yet to find one since I started using my sportsmen 1.5 yrs ago. Good luck, it seems that if you have clean eggs to begin with, oozers are rare.