Candling eggs

[Scottishnewbie]

My ebay eggs are now on day 8 and I'm thinking I now need to check and see which ones are growing and which ones aren't. I've read the book and know I need to 'candle'. I'd rather not spend even more money on some gadget or other when I might have something prefectly useable lying around, so was wondering how everyone does it (candling that it!) and when.

Many thanks folks (as ever!)

Scottishnewbie x

[RichmondHens]

A candler is really just a torch with a sort of rubber ring round it that directs the light into a much more concentrated beam. You can achieve the same effect with a normal torch (as long as it's fairly powerful) and a toilet roll inner or kitchen roll inner. Hold the cardboard tube against the egg and shine the torch in at the top. Do it in a darkened room so you get the full effect. Handle the egg extra carefully and don't joggle it at all.

Candling at 8 days is fine, although you won't see much except a few blood vessels and a bit of a "spot". Dark shelled eggs though (from Welsummer or Marans) are harder to look at. As the embryo develops, more and more of the contents will appear as a darker mass, with the air space at the blunt end more visible. You can candle again at day 14 and hopefully see a lot more. By day 18 or 19 the whole egg will be completely dark with just the air space visible.

[walldanzig]

I've candelled mine and done lots of research on t'internet and I cant add any more than the above