Chicken eggs

Filly1977 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:02 pm

Hi guys,
Just a quick question I recently got some fertile chicken eggs and they have been in my incubator for 8 days now, am I able to candling them to see if they are any babies forming, how do i do this. The eggs are araucana.
Bec

terrencep08 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:13 pm

yeah you should but you can not see inside very well to see it is very hard you might have to wait and see what comes out

Filly1977 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:15 pm

So you are saying that i need to be patient and just wait. I think I can manage that. Thanks for your help

terrencep08 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:29 pm

Peter16 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:43 pm

you can try holding them up to a power full torch and see if you can see anything developing but araucana eggs are especially hard

Peter

Filly1977 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:50 pm

Trust me to pick the hardest ones as my first ones

Peter16 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:55 pm

it would be easier again if you wait another week or so i guess, but you don't want to keep touching them and taking them out of the bator

Filly1977 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 18, 2008 5:01 pm

I cand wait another week, if it would make it easier to see them. At the moment they are not touched at all, i just turn the shelve about three to four times a day and that is about it.

jo-chicken · **Posted:** Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:49 pm

Make the room really dark, pitch black. Hold a very strong but small torch behind the eggs and seal the area around the egg so that the only light you can see is through the egg. At 8 days you will see something that looks dark about an inch to and inch and a half in size with a big black bit (the eye). if it looks clear it's infertile. DON'T THROW ANY OUT THOUGH, AS IT TAKES A TRAINED EYE TO BE SURE. At 14 days the dark thing will almost fill the egg completely. The thing to look for early on is at the large end of the egg near the air pocket. Slide the torch over this area. Find the air pocket and then gently slide the torch back behind. As you do you will/may catch site of a whole heap of 'strands'. if you look closely you will find they are blood vessels. All of the blood vessels lead to a dark spot (the foetus). I hope this helps. I candle my eggs avery two days from day 3. I can now tell if they are fertile at day two or three. It's really quite facinating. Just remember though if they are very special eggs, don't candle or disturb in first 7 days as the embryo is very delicate and can easily die. Also, do not disturb in last 24 hors before they are due as at this time they are also very delicate.

jo-chicken

Filly1977 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:43 pm

Thanks Jo,

I candled my the other night and I am positive that I ahve at least four with chickens but am not sure of the other ones.

How fast do they develope once you can see the webbing has started. My eggs went into the incubator on the 9 Jan, so they are due to hatch on the 30 Jan is the correct
Bec

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Chicken eggs

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