When do you candle the first time?

[greenhead]

Set eggs yesterday and i am curious to know when are you supposed to candle throughout the 21 days?

 

[canada-goose]

Day eight is the very earliest I would recommend. Day ten is better.

 

[greenhead]

how many times after that?

 

[canada-goose]

Maybe once or twice.

 

[peachlover]

I do it on day three, but I do not know if there is harm in it or not. I am guilty of lovin to candle. Some hatches I have candled almost every night until lockdown. It is great fun.

 

[fishfarmer]

I wait until day 7 or 8 because it is much easier to see the veins and developing embryo. Then I do it every few days and stop before lockdown.

 

[Chosen Chickens]

I am guilty of candeling a lot.... almost everyday. I figure if a mother hen can leave her nest once a day and then move them around with her beek, that my gentle candeling cant really be that bad. i love to see the progression. HI usually have great hatch rates as well. I assume as I do it more often I will candle less since it isnt so new, but typically at day 3 or 4 you can start to see the bloodwork and things

 

[canada-goose]

Seems like I'm the only one who isn't a candling addict!

 

[Akane]

I candle day 5 unless I'm setting dark brown eggs because I'm impatient to know how many are good. If you haven't candled much don't bother until day 7 or later. I make no decisions on good or bad eggs until day 10 then again day 14-16 and I candle when I take them out of the turner on day 18 (17 for seramas) because I can't stand not knowing how many eggs might potentially hatch.

 

[Bec]

Quote:
Me too! I have my bator in my bedroom so when I turn them at night before bed, I always take a quick peak in there to see what's going on. Got the clears out my day 7, had 3 quitters at 3 different times, got them out on time. It is just really cool to see what's going on in there and the amazing day to day development. As long as you aren't spinning the eggs all around and you do it VERY gently. I have hatched out babies for years under broody hens, I have always candled at least every other day. We have one now that is extremely active in there from day 5. We will be keeping that one for sure! I have 33 that are on day 15.