Candling Eggs..?

[Guest]

I have Blue Wheatens in my incubator on day 6. I use a big Maglite to candle, which works great w/ all other eggs except these, can\'t see a thing, but I can make out the air cells. Is this an indication they are developing? Anyone have any suggestions?

[bantamhill]

You should be able to see very small blood vessels.

Bantam

[Mike Gilbert]

If the eggs are truly blue and not green, you should be able to see some embryo development.    The air cells are a good sign, but wait four days and try it again.

[Guest]

I think the problem may be with using a standard MagLite. What you want in a candler is three things: 1. the light concentrated, 2. powerful light; and 3. eggs kept away from the heat of the light.

If you notice commercially available candlers from the cheap to the expensive, the light shines through a tube.

If you want to use the MagLite, first thing, I would do is change out the bulb and put in an LED bulb -- you can upgrade a MagLite to LED -- all of them -- you\'ll get 5x or more the brightness out of the light, with less heat. I would do this for all the other uses you put your MagLite(s) to, so it\'s a worthwhile investment.

I\'m definitely going to do it to mine, especially when I take up night flying once more (I won\'t do that till I have my instrument rating, but that\'s another conversation for another board).

Next if you really want to go crazy...go to a pilot supply store and get a plastic tube that affixes to the MagLite to make it a flight line baton -- now you don\'t use this to mashall your chickens but you set the egg atop the tube.

Failing that, eggcartons.com sells a small candler with a 4-watt bulb (incandescent) for about $10.

Do your candling in a darkened room, also.

--Ron

[Guest]

I too use a maglight, but I take electric tape, the black stuff, and tape off all but a small 1/4\" x 1/4\" hole then candle. By blocking the light scouce, you concentrate it and can see much better. I candeled my Marans the same way, and their eggs were much darker. Good luck!

[Guest]

Thanks all for the suggestions! Good news, just candled a few  and saw some definite action going on in there!! Just did a few, didn\'t want to press my luck & let my curiousity ruin them. This is only my 3rd hatch in this hovabator, & so far it\'s behaving perfectly. Had 100% w/ the first hatch, only like 75% w/ the 2nd, due to temp spikes I\'m sure.  I\'ll be watching this one like a hawk!!  

[Guest]

Are you using the egg turner? If so, good...but just remember...on Day 18, you\'ll need to raise the temperature. so that it\'s 99.5 at the top of the eggs.

Because heat rises, it\'s colder on the deck than at the turner. I had a high mortality rate on my first hatch because of this (I\'ll be hatching again in 2008 -- the next 18 months will be too busy)...don\'t forget that small but significant detail...

--Ron

[Guest]

No, not using the turner. I stay at home w/ my children, so it\'s no problem to hand turn. I have always heard to raise the HUMIDITY  on day 18, and stop turning, and to lower the temp by 1 degree on day 21...?

[John]

I have always heard to raise the HUMIDITY on day 18, and stop turning, and to lower the temp by 1 degree on day 21...?

Directions differ from one manufacturer to another, but you are right.  Generally they will tell you to lower the temp and raise the humidity for the last to days (19-21).

[Guest]

Yes...if you are NOT using the turner, leave the temp alone till the last day. Raise the humidity on Day 18 turner or no turner. I set a humidifier next the incubator on Day 18 for that purpose and I also put water in through a straw and funnel in the vent holes. Never, ever open the incubator from between Day 18 and Day 21.

[Guest]

I got really lucky on my first hatch, it was storming like mad for the last three days of the hatch, so the humidity was really high, didn\'t have to add alot of water,etc., and got a 100% hatch!!!

[Guest]

Well the eggs are due to hatch Tuesday, found another flashlight which worked great, and candled tonight.
 Out of the 12, 6 were clear, no development ,
 and the rest are developing fine.
Was hoping for a few more, but hopefully the remaining  eggs will hatch.  

[Guest]

KSTornado....hopefully you pulled those infertiles. You don\'t want them lingering around much after Day 18....

[John]

hopefully you pulled those infertiles

I don\'t know why.  They may take up some place, but shouldn\'t hurt anything.  If you have a small incubator and need room to set more eggs go ahead and candle so you can get rid of the bad eggs and set some more.
I hatched about 1,000 chicks this year and only candled the first hatch so that I could have time to adjust some matings if the cocks weren\'t fertilizing the eggs.  Other than that it seems like a waste of time and I think the less you handle eggs during incubation the better.  Of course those are just my thoughts on the matter.  :thinking:

[Guest]

Yes, I tossed them, AFTER I cracked them open to see if they ever began developing at all (they hadn\'t). I\'m w/ John, I try not to mess w/ them as much as I can (beyond the hand turning, when I am super-gentle ) \'cuz I\'m paranoid I\'ll drop one & smash the poor thing!
  I like to candle about a week into it to see if they\'re fertile, then right before I stop turning so I won\'t get my hopes up TOO high. Sure wish I had known a week into it that only half were fertilized, when I couldn\'t see them w/ the other light, I assumed it was as (whoever...? I forget who) said, some you can\'t see thru at ALL, but this time I could see perfectly. I am new to this, I guess if I were hatching a thousand chicks a season, I wouldn\'t be so worried about a few, either.