To candle or not to candle.

[polo]

Hi everyone,

As far as I can tell things are going well with the broddy and her eggs. We are on day 6 today and we have very much left her alone to her own devices.

The question is, should I candle the eggs or leave well alone?

thanks, Polo

[petal]

I candle a broodies eggs now at 7 days whilst she is off having a poop etc- remove duds- they will contaminate others -after that she will normally chuck out rubbish ones.

[elizajay]

I candle a broodies eggs now at 7 days whilst she is off having a poop etc- remove duds- they will contaminate others -after that she will normally chuck out rubbish ones.

The last time I had eggs under a broody, she kept leaving eggs out in the cold. The day before hatch day I removed an egg that felt cold and it started cheeping so I put it back under and it hatched.

[polo]

OK, will have a go then. :-)

[jessmorris]

Its probably worth it. the dud ones can explode (so I've heard!). And if she's pushed to incubate them all it will give her more of chance to keep em warm....

[polo]

Me and little Polo have just candled the eggs (day 9) there were two that were clearly dud - one completely clear and the other with a very clear black ring on it. That leaves 9 developing eggs (yes that was eleven to start with, nothing like the nine it was supposed to be!) although one of them I was a little unsure about because it slid around inside a lot more than the others.

We saw some good veining and one of the embryos moved so little Polo was over the moon. Pleased to see it really, the shells were very thick.

Little Polo also cracked the duds to check them out :-) Great experience.

[jessmorris]

Fabulous! I think candling is amazing - I couldn't belive it the first time I did it. What a great experience for little Polo too!