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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly. You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. How early and how often do you candle your eggs? Thread starter casslarrabee Start date Feb 25, Sort by date Sort by reaction score.
I'm a stay at home Momma so I'm here all day with the incubator and drive myself nuts wondering whats going on in those eggs! I start candling at day two. I am always able to see the germinal disc in the fertile eggs and I check for those. Then I check the progress every day usually when I get up in the morning then before I go to bed.
How often do you check? Is there anything wrong with doing as often as I do? Jun 12, 1, 52 Safford, Arizona. Best to candled on 7 th day and then 18th day before lockdown. I wouldnt bother them much as you can do damage!!. I've had eggs that are difficult to see into so wait until day 10 to ensure any development is seen, discard clear eggs, then again on day 18 to cull any that stopped developing. Hi there! Leave them be, or flip them over?
They have been in a fully automated incubator, turning them. Your email address will not be published. Skip to content Search. Here you will find the complete guide on what candling is and when and how to perform it. Do you have to candle an egg? There are several different types of candler depending on what you want or need. Things Not To Do As tempting as it may be, try not to candle daily. It can influence growth and development from repeated interruptions. Do not use dirty or soiled eggs.
Do not leave eggs out of the incubator for longer than 30 minutes. Limitations Of Egg Candling Exactly how much you can see is limited in most cases.
Marking The Eggs Using a regular pencil — no marker pens, the toxins can leach through the shell — you can mark the eggs as you desire. Believe it or not, but the weather can exert subtle effects on the hatching eggs. You should handle all eggs before setting them in the incubator.
Being The Detective! How To Identify Problem Eggs Early quitters These are eggs that, for whatever reason, have stopped developing, and the embryo has died. Late quitters These embryos die further along in the incubation process and using your newly acquired detective skills. At hatch Very occasionally, you might find that several of your chicks hatched and then died once they had pipped.
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I have a lot of double yolkers from my leg horns. Is that a problem for trying to incubate them? Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Subscribe to our Newsletter. Better to let nature take its course. Currently, I hatch eggs in the classroom to help science students learn about eggs, baby development, and baby chicks. I do not pick the eggs up when I candle them. I leave them in the tray.
The only time I pick them up is when I move them to the hatcher. I candle 3 or 4 times. Seems to work pretty well. We love incubating and candling eggs. It is wonderful for my children to be able to see the growth of these aches. It was very stressful for me to keep the incubator at the right settings but letting my children see the baby a developed was wonderful. We I would love to win some eggs and do it all over again.
I only candle a few random eggs to see how everyone is doing. I end up leaving all eggs in the incubator until they hatch. I would hate to make a mistake and discard a good egg. I love hatching my own babies. They always seem much more special than store bought ones. Not to mention I try to do a live feed of them hatching for my friends.
Everyone loves watching it. Those Cream Legbar Hatching Eggs are something new to me. I would love to hatch those babies and add them to my flock. Just used a broody bantam to hatch my first eggs. Thanks for your article. It was helpful. I love my girls to death and wanted to hatch eggs of my own instead of buying chicks this blog was soooo helpful.
I have only tried to hatch eggs once and none hatched. I candled at 10 days and about 15 days using a small LED flashlight. I sure could usee a candler and would love to try and hatch some eggs again, especially cream Legbar since my goal is too have as eggs in as many colors as I can get.
Boy, it sure would be hard to choose between the eggs and the candler! I have a candler and a flashlight but neither are that great of a light source I would like something better.
I also do not like to candle often. I generally hatch coturnix quail, so they are very hard to see inside as well. But my main issue with candling is the same as one of yours- keeping the temperature regulated. Right now I have black copper marans, easter eggers and dominiques in my little LG incubator, there was one wiggling this morning even though 21 days is tomorrow! I would absolutely love the cream Legbars!
I have a gqf cabinet incubator so when I do open and close it it re stabilizes fast. The magic of candling every day wore off years ago once I saw and recognized the development stages.
What works for me is I candle once a week. With dark eggs I candle near the end of incubation. My rare breed birds. Icelandic and Swedish flower hens are over achievers. I will hear cheeping on day I candle and the air cell is already broken.
I move them to the hatcher after that. I would like to win the creme legbar eggs. I is a breed I have had a hard time acquiring. I like the blue eggs and the fact the breed was created by the geneticist Punnett. Seeing the gender of newly hatched chicks would be great. These days I candle once— around 18 days— just to make sure everything is OK and toss out the duds.
If I were to win I would go with… the eggs! I agree not to candle them too much. It just seems like it creates heartache! Wish this post had been available to us in Feb. I totally agree with you….. I only candle once! On day 18, we remove the egg turner, candle all of the eggs, add water for humidity then close the lid for lockdown. I can see the point of checking the eggs on day 10, but I dont bother.
Darker eggs make the job difficult to candle and easier to mistake. If there is a bad egg, like you said, the nose works. I just sniff the incy vents, it all smells good — leave it alone! I have to agree. I am someone who is obsessive about watching and documenting the process. I only candle randomly and not even every batch.
This is my first year candling. I have read all comments and will learn from them all. I only have a small incubator and a led flashlight. I agree dark shell eggs are almost impossible to see through. I would enjoy either the candler or the eggs. We just started hatching eggs this year.
There is definitely a learning curve! Read is my advice! We keep reading and trying and learning something new everyday! My partridge silkie is sitting on 4 white leghorn eggs that should hatch April 5th.
I candled at day 8 to remove non viable eggs. I do very little candling, especially with my own eggs. With shipped ones, only a few random ones.. We have been candling at 7 days 14 days and lockdown, but we are still working out the kinks involved in the incubation process. I think that your idea of candling less is a very good one, and I am going to try to candle less from now on.
It wont solve the problem of our crummy incubator We are hoping for a new one very soon I Love love love the legbar chickens and would love to hatch those, but I cant afford the price of those treasured little eggs, especially with my crummy bator. I ordered chicken hatching eggs this year and they have been in the incubator for 3 days now.
I had purchased the egg turner so I have not opened it yet. Thank you and Happy Easter to everyone!! I tend to over candle myself. It is just about impossible to candle Ameraucana and Marans eggs. My first choice would be the Cream Legbar eggs.
I decided I want to give incubating eggs a try. The only thing holding me back is the price of the eggs I want to incubate- cream legbars! I love that they are auto-sexing chicks! I figure that is perfect for a first timer! A fox has killed several of our hens and now we need to replace them. Candling can be tricky, even for the most experienced…especially with dark eggs.
You have mentioned most of the problems and issues that can happen with candling. It may sound simplistic, but I try and incubate and hatch as many as I can without candling…because I have not had a quality candler tool. Less is more—the less you touch and play with eggs to candle them, the better your hatch rate.
Though I believe a quality candler would allow me to waiver from this decision. I have a large rooster to hen ratio 7 roosters so an infertile egg is pretty infrequent for me. Most of the problem with hatching is too much water—especially in certain types of incubators.
Opossum attacked a few nights ago—before the coop door was closed at dusk. And a candler would help me make some quality decisions about fertile eggs.
First year hatching and using a flashlight. Does not work too well on dark colored shells. Would love either the eggs or candler. Good luck to everyone! Great post! I try to only candle 3 times: day 7, day 14, and before lockdown. I use an LED candler, which has been fantastic, and I make sure my hands are clean, but not wet.
Changing how I candle eggs has definitely helped to improve my hatch rates. And I would adore some cream legbars. This is so exciting! Thank you for having this giveaway and all your helpful tips on candling and what to do and not to do when helping your eggs toward hatching. Much easier on the eggs to candle in the turner. Also buy the best candler you can afford makes it so much easier to see through those eggs with a good light.
I enjoy candling its a very guilty pleasure but since I just use my silkie girls for incubators, when the dogs go out for their bedtime potty break I sneak a candling. I am just finishing my first incubating experience. My eggs go on lockdown in a couple of hours. I love this article. I have just started hatching eggs and am still in the candle every other day mode. Reading this has been very educational. I will slow down on this.
I would love to win some hatching eggs! Our chickens are getting pretty old and I would love to be able to add cream legbar to my flock! I would want the egg candler, as we are going to be putting eggs in the incubator in a couple of weeks to try and hatch some of our own eggs. We have hatched out eggs in the past without candling and ended up with some rotten eggs with 1 even exploding in the incubator. WOW was that stinky!!!! I really liked the post. I have never candled, only used a broody, and so far have had excellent results.
I would love some legbars to add to my flock. I would love to win the Legbar eggs, the blue egg layers would make a great addition to the flock! Good luck everyone! I have twelve black copper marans in a still air bator. Thanks for the great tips! It surely is addicting and takes all my willpower to not do it more often! I use a small LED flashlight, works fine.
I have cream legbars on my dream list and would be thrilled to hatch a few! I try to control myself but it is so hard! I have had turkey eggs in my incubator for about 10 days and I only candled once, at 7 days. I would love to win the candler! The candler would be so wonderful! I am a beginner when it comes to rainsing chickens and find all of the infomation invaluable. It makes sense the less you handle the eggs the better it is for the chicks. I would like the eggs as I will not be a big candler.
Thanks again for the info on your blog! I would Love to have an incubator and a candler. I do not candle my eggs and have had alot of disappointment when the hens set all month on bad eggs. Love this article. I am also someone who has learned not to candle as much.
I use black gloves because it makes it easier to surround my eggs with them and see better!! Would love to win the hatching eggs. We have hatched our own several times. We had a rooster and he seemed to take his daily responsibility with his ladies pretty seriously, so….
I love the article! I plan to print it out and keep it as a reminder. It also would have helped greatly if first, I had known what I was doing, and second if I had had a proper candler!!!!
I agree. I hatch mainly Marans. If I had a incubator I would try the eggs. My 12 puffballs are now pullets. My grandaughter has named every one of them! So I know a candler would be very educational and exciting for both of us. I am saving for a little incubator , and I know I will need a candler. I am so happy I found your site and several others I think you know.
I am learning alot! Thank You! I only candled my first eggs on the 7th day and then again yesterday on the 14th to make sure we are still growing I wont touch them again until the 18th day to take out the rotator. The candler would be so much better than holding the flashlight in my hand with the egg on top, especially since I have arthritis in my hands and so worried about dropping them. But Cream Legbars would be great in getting my rare breed hobby going as well, so either would be great, but the candler is my first wish.
Very good information! I agree do not candle too soon. With dark eggs I might even wait longer, it is so hard to see inside. I would love the Cream Legbar Hatching Eggs, such beautiful eggs and chickens. I remember candling our quail eggs in school. I can see how it can be addictive. After the poultry project last year, 4-H was selling the birds my daughter was showing.
My other daughter wanted one. Since I saw the rooster, No one is left behind. He has been taking care if business all winter. Love Your Article! I have been incubating and hatching eggs now for over 13 years. I have to agree with your points on candling the eggs. To much handling, opening the incubator, and candling, can cause death of the embryo growing inside the egg.
I have learned from experience, that it is best to candle the eggs only twice during incubation. I am now incubating eggs after not having done so in 20 years or more. Trying not to over candle is hard, especially with a 6 yr old learning by my side. We did do them at 7 days and then at 8 days, and now I see why to wait. A huge difference!
We marked 2 iffy eggs out of Figure we will wait a few days, then just try those two again. Good thing is, these are free eggs from my sister. A flashlight makes me take longer and risk dropping an egg. This is such a great experience for my daughter. With that, some of this batch may get candled a wee bit more than needed, just for her sake.
To see the changes. I did post a video of one chick bobbing in the egg last night. A priceless video in my opinion. In my experience, getting the correct humidity level and temp stability in the incubator are the most important factors in achieving an acceptable hatch rate. I would love to win the eggs. Lots of fun! I agree… when I first started incubating I was candling all the time. It was just so much fun to watch things develop!
Very good advice! Yep, hard way to learn to leave em alone! And how better to start than with some gorgeous birds like cream legbars? So I never culled eggs with candling. Hoping this will be our year for hatching again. I have not incubated yet. Key word is yet!! My daughter is a second grade teacher and we have been talking about doing this with her students. My first ever baby chicks arrive in May from MPC. So excited. Loved your article, never realized so much harm could come to the babies in candling.
Worked in a preschool for 10 years and I would candle some of our eggs so the children could see how dark the egg was and the air pocket. They loved it. As for a recomandation, I would say mark one egg and only candle that one to reduce any chances of losing babies. I would love to win the eggs, because my flock is down to 3. Love my chickens, but old age is getting to them. I agree that too much handling greatly decreases hatch rates. My first eggs I made that mistake and only one egg hatched out of nearly three dozen.
I would love to win the incubator, as my homemade one and my Tractor Supply one are getting rather old! I would candle on 10th day and lock down 18th day thats all. I really want to hatch my own sometime. I now try to candle just like you have suggested……….
It is truly hard to keep my hands off the eggs but I just try to think of doing something else. I would love to have the Brinsea candling unit because it would free up both of my hands during the process and be less risk of dropping them.
I have only used a flashlight so it would be a big help. I have 2 of the Brinsea Minis and I just love them. I have hatched many eggs in them and they still look like they just came out of the box!
I try not to take them out of the turner… I found an led light that I can even candle Marans eggs with! Then I do a more through check on 10 to 14 and I have never hatched my own eggs but would love to try.
I have a couple of broodies that would make wonderful mothers. Of course , having an incubator would be great as well. Either way, one can never have enough chickens!
It is required in my state for selling eggs. It would be great to win this drawing. I would love to try a new incubator or some eggs to try in my old one …..
I always try now not to candle as much too now.. I learned my lesson severl times over!!! I would love to win the cream legbar hatching eggies. We breed rare and exotic chickens and would love to have some to further breed and populate our area with them. They are gorgeous specimens. You have to think about incubation like cookie jars…hands off and hands out! I wish they made an incubator with an internal light rings on each hole so you can leave the eggs in the incubator and illumination.
You could observe your eggs anytime without disruption of temp,humidity or hurting the. ADVICE: A lot of people, novices and pros alike, will make the mistake of constantly moving the egg or spinning it around and around looking for veins or a chick. The only causes possible damage to the egg and even the chick. Altough a few monutes of cooling will not hurt the chick, mother hens leave the nest at least once a day eat and drink, we should be careful with how much time we have the egg out where it can become damaged.
When candling the egg, I put it at an angle with the pointed end down on the candler. Then I wait. I will let the contents of the egg settled and the heavier bits, yolk or chick, begin to rise to the surface.
From there I can start to examine for veins or a little chick moving. The only outcome you have there is possible damage to the egg. The last thing you want to do with a fertile egg is cook it. Definitely a step in the right direction, flashlights are not as hot, and a lot more stable. Even now it's easy to use a small flashlight for candling. You just need a strong light - halogen bulbs are ideal - and either a home-made box or your hand, made into a fist.
Dealing with the fist-version first, it works by the light being held inside the fist with the bulb close to the top and the egg balanced on the clenched fist. The benefits of this are that it's a relatively cheap way of doing it, and it's very simple. The light tends to be less strong because some of it is absorbed by the hand.
But the main drawback is potential accidents. I t's very easy to drop an egg balanced on a fist, especially if you're trying to take photographs at the same time. Make sure you candle on a soft surface in case you drop the egg. I use a towel on my candling table. If you'd like to use a flashlight, make sure it has a strong, preferably, LED, lamp. This little light, which is also inexpensive, is ideal.
If you're not sure whether you're going to hatch again although I guarantee you will! A home-made, table-top candler isn't difficult to achieve and can be very effective. Have a look at this short video which shows how it can be done. Powered by batteries, this high intensity candler's light is not hot, but is strong enough to give an excellent view through the shell, especially if used in a darkened room.
Use it with an ' ovascope ' and you have the perfect combination. The only way of knowing whether it's fertile - short of breaking the shell open - is by incubating it for six or seven days.
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