Candling

Flat Rock Farm · Post by **Flat Rock Farm** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:21 pm

Killerbunny wrote:QR_BBPOST It's funny sometimes when you candle a light egg you can see it saying "get that light out of my eyes" as it moves away!

Or they really start to kick up a fuss too!

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:23 pm

In eggs <17 days, if I don't see movement or it just looks odd, I look at blood vessels to compare to known good eggs. If the chick is dead or dying, the blood vessels will be uniformly very skinny and/or hard to see. A dying embryo that is still moving has a distinct movement pattern, swimming in slow circles as if stuck in a rut. The vessels of a healthy embryo are thicker, darker and variable in size. At lockdown if I don't see movement, I go by how well the egg is filled and air cell size and colour. I also candle both ends, because any eggs with a bunch of free space/clear fluid in the pointy end, won't hatch healthy. They always die in shell and are always very undersized.

Robbie · Post by **Robbie** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 2:34 pm

Thanks WWW I'll look for those things. I'm not sure how fluid would look at the pointy end, I assume it will be clear instead of dark?

windwalkingwolf · Post by **windwalkingwolf** » Wed Apr 27, 2016 11:29 pm

Robbie wrote:QR_BBPOST Thanks WWW I'll look for those things. I'm not sure how fluid would look at the pointy end, I assume it will be clear instead of dark?

Yup. Also, early bacterial contamination will cause blood rings, which are obvious, but a little later in incubation, the embryo just looks dark and 'off' and lethargic like a dying goldfish. Later still, you can sometimes see bacterial blooms before they kill the embryo...they show up as dark smears at points like hairline cracks or thin spots in the shell, or thickened, darkened smears following a blood vessel, Up to day 14 or so, the chick will not survive this...day 15 to 17 it could go either way, after day 18 the chick is probably home free unless he ingests the bloom, and sometimes at this point, what shows up as dark smears or blobs during candling is actually chick p00p, the white gloop sometimes left in shell (or on chick) after hatch, so no point in pitching eggs at this point.
I always tell myself hands off, try to candle only twice, but I'm an obsessive candler. I turn by hand, so every second day or so I go "hmm, might as well candle at the same time" :/

Post by **Killerbunny** » Thu Apr 28, 2016 5:38 am

I hear you Jan - I'm trying to break myself of being a serial candler!