By
Scott Shilala - another
brilliant pictorial article
How
do I candle eggs? I Shine a bright light through the egg.
Candling is not a specific art. It is more of a comparison, meaning
all the eggs of the same age should look the same. It is something
best learned by doing it, and really is just as simple as you make
it. You cannot hurt eggs by candling them (short of dropping them).
They can be out of the incubator for a half-hour without any harm.
Candle every day if you like, after day 3 you should see something.
At about 8 days, you can see the chick wiggling and kicking in his
egg. We once saw a chicks' heart beating while candling!
Bad
Eggs: The egg on the left shows a ring at 6 days.
This ring is formed by concentrated bacteria which has invaded
the eggs' membrane. It can become present very early, or after
the chick has already started to form, as in the picture on
the right. In the picture on the right the ring, or portion
of it, can be seen at the bottom of the egg with the expired
chick in the middle.
More
Bad Eggs: For a different reason. The egg on the
left shows a blood spot. In my experience an egg with a blood
spot will not hatch. They will go bad and blow up, though.
The egg on the right at 6 days shows "clear". It
is infertile, or too old to germinate.
Yet
Even More Bad Eggs: The egg on the left shows a blood
spot incubated to 8 days. You can see the bacterial ring forming
at this point. Soon this egg will start to "weep",
and if it isn't caught in time, it will explode into a stinky
mess. The egg on the right shows highly defined pores. Eggs
that look like this under candling have a slim chance of hatching
in my experience. I've noticed that it mostly depends on the
severity of the porosity.
Good
Eggs: On the left, you can see the "spider"
of veins growing away from the peep. This egg is at 6 days.
You can see this spider in a smaller version at 3 days. The
egg on the right is at 2 weeks. You can see the clear spot
beneath, with the yolk and peep floating at the top.
Homemade
Candler Recipe
1- 60 watt sealed beam flood light bulb
1- ceramic light base
1- old lamp cord
1- 4X4 utility box
1- Romex connector
1- piece of scrap wood for a mounting base
1- cardboard box with a small hole cut in it
1- roll of black electric tape
Throwin'
it together...
Punch out a hole in the 4x4 box, install the romex connector,
screws on the outside.
Pass
the lamp cord through the connector with about 6" inside
the box, ends bared about 3/4".
Screw
down 4x4 box to your piece of wood that you are using as the base.
Tighten
down romex connector screws. If lamp cord is loose, you may need
to make a number of wraps with electrical tape on the cord to
increase it's diameter, so the connector can get a good bite.
Attach
the lamp cord to the light base. One wire goes on each screw,
it doesnt matter which wire to which screw.
Screw
down your lamp base, use screws provided with the base.
Screw
in your light bulb, find a box, cut in a small hole, and start
candling. Use some sense here, the candler becomes VERY HOT, make
sure the box is big enough not to catch fire!!! Don't leave the
candler unattended, EVER!!!
The
brighter the light the better, when it comes to candling!!!
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