Anyone 'candle' their own hatching eggs?

Spyda

Spyda

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We're hatching our first bought-in eggs and I haven't a clue whether they're fertilised or not. They do look different from the def unfert eggs from the fridge but don't seems to have changed in appearance any, over the past 10 days. Would this be normal.

This is what they've been looking like for the past week or so...

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Not great images but the best I can get I'm afraid. There's a definite air pocket at the wide end of the egg and the rest of the egg just looks solid-dark through the light. The eggs have been looking like this for the past week to 10 days.

Are they viable? Or no? Any opinion???
 
been a while since i've done any hatching so i can't remember timescales of development but certainly you should be seeing spider veins by now.
i used to candle mine with a toilet roll tube wedged into a piece of card over a lamping torch(million trillion candle type thing lol) toilet roll tube just the right size for directing the light through the egg;)
 
as you arent that experienced you will find it hard to differentiate between a healthy developing embryo and an embryo that has 'failed' and died. It all comes with practice so keep going! :D

However your eggs look about right to me for the incubation period. The dark area is the embryo developing. If it was infertile etc you wouldnt get the distinct air sac and the whole egg would 'glow' instead of just the end. Hope that makes sense.

I would say just leave them now and see what happens :)

Good luck!
 
Why not pop them in an incy or under a broody and check them. I found a really cold egg(duck in the garden) stuck it under a bantum and now have mallard! Will be released! A bit of an experiment! Perhaps will post a pic when I find out how!
 
Thanks for the helpful replies :) I dont think my torch is really bright enough. That's probably the problem.

Ofcourseyoucan: Ah yes, know what you're describing for a failed egg; we have one of those and another one that's completely clear.

Hopefully some of the others will be viable then. They're under a broody Bantam ATM - she's been sat for ages so I'm kinda hoping at least one hatches. She must be bored ridged sat there stairing at the wall all day. Talk about commitment :D
 
when it gets to the last couple of days till hatching time youl hear the eggs tweet! i was shocked when i picked the egg up to candle it and it tweeted! swiftly put it back under mum and the next day a little chick was there! i only had two out of six hatch and she pushed the rest away. and one was a cockerel ;-) luckily a local college was looking for a cockerel so they had him!
 
My bantam hatched the duck egg and it was funny we have a big duck hiding under tiny bantam.....it sticks out both ends!! I think she cant work out why she has such a waterbabe!

Banties make good mums. I did the same tried to candle but you do need a strong torch. In the end I decided to see what happens
 
indie999 said:
My bantam hatched the duck egg and it was funny we have a big duck hiding under tiny bantam.....it sticks out both ends!! I think she cant work out why she has such a waterbabe!

Banties make good mums. I did the same tried to candle but you do need a strong torch. In the end I decided to see what happens
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Yeah, I've pretty much decided to let things take its course.

Here's a picture of my two broody hens; the lavender bantam went broody first and a few days later the Buff Orpington decided to join her. Problem is, they both insisted on the same corner so the Buffy simply sat on Eva and 'took her under her wing'!!!! :D Daft, but cute.

BuffyfeelingbroodywithEvaMay2011.jpg
EvaunderBuffywingMay2011.jpg
 
If they are chicken or bantam eggs then you are talking 20-21 days to hatch - but never discard them until day 25 (just in case). They can take slightly longer in an incubator than they do under a broodie.

If you google egg candling images there are lots of pictures available. I normally candle after 7 days to see if I can see veins and then again 3 days before hatching is due - when you can normally only see a dark mass and an air pocket. I've also picked one up to candle it and had it cheep back - I nearly dropped it. I use a small maglight and do it in a dark room.

What are you hatching and do you have any idea how dangerously addictive this is????
 
rubyredshoes said:
If they are chicken or bantam eggs then you are talking 20-21 days to hatch - but never discard them until day 25 (just in case). They can take slightly longer in an incubator than they do under a broodie.

If you google egg candling images there are lots of pictures available. I normally candle after 7 days to see if I can see veins and then again 3 days before hatching is due - when you can normally only see a dark mass and an air pocket. I've also picked one up to candle it and had it cheep back - I nearly dropped it. I use a small maglight and do it in a dark room.

What are you hatching and do you have any idea how dangerously addictive this is????
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Thanks. I've looked on Google and the eggs that I think are viable (or, at least, were) look like a solid dark mass with a smallish air pocket. Can't see any veins or movement though, but they are brown eggs and my torch isn't all that in terms of being super duper bright. Maybe I just can't see very well. She started them on 19th May so by my calculation they are due to hatch before the weekend. Is that right?

They're Red Leghorn eggs, and I'm hoping one or two of the 6 I've got will hatch. Fingers crossed. Jeeze I only bought the eggs in because the bantam was broody and I felt sorry for her. Now I'm biting my nails wondering if any will hatch.

If none of the eggs hatch, what does the hen sitting do? Do they eventually 'give up' or will I have to remove the eggs and keep her away from the coop? I did try this before I bought in the eggs. I locked her out of the coop during the day and she just set up camp outside and resumed sitting. She's not laying herself but rolling any of the eggs the other chickens lay into her 'nest'. :rolleyes:
 
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I tend to let nature take it's own course but I did try 'candling' some eggs. Like you, I could hardly see anything (and I used a BIG torch) so I tested them in water. The floating ones I put back under the broody (with an X on them to mark them as checked) and we ate the sinkers!

Our girls normally gave up on sitting once they had 2/3 eggs hatched so I try not to let them sit on too many now.

If you want to stop a girl being broody then get some air circulating under their nest area. They can't settle if they're in a draught. I haven't tried this but I know it works.
 
snoopyinfrance said:
If you want to stop a girl being broody then get some air circulating under their nest area. They can't settle if they're in a draught. I haven't tried this but I know it works.
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Cheers! If nothing hatches by Sunday I'll try the 'draft' effect on her to get her off the nest.
 
Sorry some silly questions. I have had chickens for about 3 years now, None of my chickens have ever been broody? Do they do this at a certain time in their life? or is it just pot luck. Do you need a cockerel to get them broody?
 
jennifer83 said:
Sorry some silly questions. I have had chickens for about 3 years now, None of my chickens have ever been broody? Do they do this at a certain time in their life? or is it just pot luck. Do you need a cockerel to get them broody?
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No, they don't need anything special to go broody and certainly don't need a cockeral for it to happen. Some breeds are just more prone to it than others. If you've ex-batt chickens, for example (which are commonly ISA Browns - a cross between Red and White Leghorns), then they've been bred specifically NOT to go broody since this would affect egg production. On the otherhand certain breeds are known for their 'broodiness'. Bantams are such a type. And my Buff Orpington obviously is. Apparently it can be contagious too; if one hen starts, then others around her will often follow. My Buffy only turned broody after the bantam had been sitting for a few days. But my ex-batts are immune, as they've been bred to be :)
 
Well, you see Spyda this is how it all starts. It is all very innocent at first. It usually starts with a chicken that goes broody so you get some eggs to pop under her. Then they don't hatch and you feel sorry for the chicken as she's sat for all that time with nothing to show for it....so you get some day old chicks to pop under her a night and you remove the dud eggs...... or you only get one chick that hatches and you feel sorry for poor billy-no-mates so you go and get another chick to keep it company. Before you know it you'll be buying an incubator and going on chicken forums.......terribly addictive these chickens .........

Fingers crossed for a good hatch and lots of girls.
 
One of my Silkies has been broody on an empty nest for a marathon 10 weeks so I got a few ready to hatch eggs from a breeder on Saturday (cheating I know but she was sooo sad). Just stuck my head in the nest box and I hear definite peeping, I’m bursting with excitement now.

Any idea how long it will be before she brings them off the nest, can’t find anything useful on Google?
 
She'll bring them out in the next day or so. They can survive for a couple of days without food or water as they contain yolk reserves. Is she separate from your other girls as they may not take kindly to chicks being around?
 
rubyredshoes said:
Well, you see Spyda this is how it all starts. It is all very innocent at first. It usually starts with a chicken that goes broody so you get some eggs to pop under her. Then they don't hatch and you feel sorry for the chicken as she's sat for all that time with nothing to show for it....so you get some day old chicks to pop under her a night and you remove the dud eggs...... or you only get one chick that hatches and you feel sorry for poor billy-no-mates so you go and get another chick to keep it company. Before you know it you'll be buying an incubator and going on chicken forums.......terribly addictive these chickens .........

Fingers crossed for a good hatch and lots of girls.
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Well, I just broke the two eggs that I candled as def empty and they were. Nothing in them at all except a normal yolk. The remaining 4 eggs that def looked solid when candled I'm leaving under Eva and hoping for the best. Got a feeling they aren't going to hatch (ever the pessimist) but will give them to the weekend. They should def be hatched by them if they're going to.
 
Many thanks for the reply. Might have to take a sickie, I can’t miss the grand entrance ;o).

Yes she’s on her own thanks, everyone else has been evicted from the coop and happily free ranging in my flower beds and over-nighting in the duck pen.
 
joelb said:
One of my Silkies has been broody on an empty nest for a marathon 10 weeks so I got a few ready to hatch eggs from a breeder on Saturday (cheating I know but she was sooo sad). Just stuck my head in the nest box and I hear definite peeping, I’m bursting with excitement now.
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Awwww, I am SOOOOO jealous. Only having to wait 4 or 5 days for something to exciting to happen! It's just NOT fair. *Stamps foot*
 
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