When to candle?

[BLaBauve]

On what day can I candle and expect to actually be able to see something?

 

[Katy]

If you've never candled before I'd wait until day 9 or 10. By then there's no doubt whether they're developing or not. If you have dark eggs such as Marans or Welsummers it's hard for someone who's never candled before to tell much of anything until much later.

 

[Noncentzter]

I try to only candle on day 18, Lockdown, when I'm taking the turner out...that way I know if they are clear or not and toss the clear ones and hope the rest hatch. In my latest hatch, out of 14 eggs I tossed five on day 18, kept two iffie ones and as of this morning only three have hatched...I will still wait a couple more days to see if the rest will do anything...

 

[abanjaf]

If you have light-colored eggs, you can see pretty well at Day 3 (the veins beginning to appear, quite often in the shape of a spider). If the eggs are darker, I'll wait 7-10 days. On some of my Maran and olive-colored eggs, could only make out the fullness of the egg right at lockdown. And on some of those really dark eggs, can't see a darn thing! Just gotta play the wait and see game!

 

[BLaBauve]

Thank you all! I'm on day 7. But I'll wait until at least 10. I have olive eggs and maran eggs. Not sure if I'll ever be able to see anything!

 

[Chosen Chickens]

Okay, ready for an alternte view? I have now incubated and hatched with a 100% hatch rate brown egged chickens as well as white egged chicks as well as bantams.... I candle every single day!!!!!!!

Heres why..... 1. it is fun
2. You learn a ton by candeling and seeing the progress every single day, you learn what to see and what to look for. I know some say that if you are new then dont candle until day 9 or 10 but how are you suppose to learn and know what
to look for earlier if you aren't candeling until then? Also, think about how much they are moved around in the mothers hen, she is getting off the eggs at least once a day so opening the bator to check is not an issue at all.
3. I like to get rid of eggs that aren't developing earlier to take the risk out of having one exploding and ruining the whole flock.
4. It is fun

Also, I know this is way way not going to be loved by most, but I wil candle them during "lockdown" as well. I have mine in a spare bathroom so I will turn on the shower as hot as it will go and close the door and come back in 5 minutes. When I take off the top the humidity actually goes up and the temp goes up while I am candeling. If you arent in a bathroom then not a good idea, but I have seen many of my chicks where they have piped through the internal pocket but not outside yet.

So if you are candeling just to see if they are fertile or not then it doesn't really matter when you candle, but if you are like a lot of people and have fun candeling then do it whenever you want and as many times as you want.... IMO

 

[BLaBauve]

I love your shower idea! Makes sense to me! Mine are in a guest room and it's actually really dry in Georgia right now. I'm even tempted to put a humidifier in the room with them.

 

[Lotsapaints]

I admit I look at some of mine every day and I am getting better at it I do not look at all eggs every nite I have too many would take more than 10 minutes that said I just started incubating after a many years break and I couldn't tell anything at first now I can tell by the 4 th day I still don't toss until day 10 and I will toss at day 18 I have not had a stinky yet ......ya gotta look so you can tell