Chicken farmers use candles or candles to learn which chicken eggs are fertile and will hatch into chicks. Candling can also be used to determine if a fertile egg has stopped developing. The candling process works by lighting up the inside of the egg so you can see what's inside the crust. This article will show you the correct procedure for candling eggs.
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Method 1 of 2: Understanding the Candleling Process
Step 1. Understand why you need to wax eggs
If you're incubating your eggs at home, it's a good practice to keep track of how your eggs are developing. However, it can also be very difficult (if not impossible) without using candles. Candling involves shining a bright light into the egg, which allows you to see the contents of the egg and check if the egg is developing properly.
- When you hatch eggs at home, you will never get 100% hatch rate. Some eggs will not be fertile from the start (these are called “yolkers”) while others will stop developing at some point during the incubation process (these are known as “quitters”).
- It is important to be able to identify and remove yolkers and quitters during the incubation process, otherwise they will start to rot and eventually explode in the incubator, contaminating other eggs with bacteria and creating a very foul odor.
Step 2. Use the correct candlestick equipment
Candling equipment doesn't have to be fancy or special -- in fact, candling used to be done using the flame of a candle (which is why it's called candling). The main requirement is a bright light (the brighter the better) with an opening smaller than the diameter of the egg. You will need to candling in a very dark room to see inside the egg.
- You can buy a special egg candlestick kit at a poultry supply store. Usually this looks like a small flashlight powered by either a battery or a cable plug.
- You can make your own egg candles at home by placing a 60-watt lamp in a coffee can and making a 2.5 cm diameter hole in the top of the can. Alternatively, you can take a very bright flashlight and cover the front with a piece of cardboard with a 2.5 cm diameter hole in the center.
- An advanced technology, which is an expensive option for egg candling is known as the Ovascope. This device has a rotating stand on which the eggs are laid. Then the egg is covered with a hood that blocks out any incoming light. You can then see the eggs through a lens, which enlarges the eggs slightly for easier examination.
Step 3. Follow a proper candle schedule
You must wax your eggs before placing them in the incubator. You probably won't be able to see anything, much less tell the difference between good and bad eggs, but it will give you an indication of how undeveloped eggs look, which will be useful for comparison later.
- This step may also be useful for looking for small cracks that are not visible to the naked eye. Cracked eggs are more susceptible to harmful bacteria and affect the development of the embryo. If you find an egg with a crack, don't throw it away just yet, but be sure to note the crack and check on the progress of the egg later.
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While some people will wax their eggs daily during incubation, waiting up to about seven days is a better idea. There are two reasons for that:
- Number one: 'Eggs are temperature sensitive and constantly moving eggs in and out of the incubator can affect their development, especially at this early stage.
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Number two:
Before the seventh day the eggs will not develop too much and it will be difficult to tell the difference between good and bad eggs.
- After candling on the seventh day you should leave the eggs until around the fourteenth day. At this point, you can double-check for any questionable eggs and discard them if there are still no signs of development.
- You should refrain from candling after the sixteenth or seventeenth day, as eggs should not be moved or turned on the day leading up to hatching. In addition, the egg embryo will develop very much and will fill the egg at this stage, so you can see very little.
Method 2 of 2: Egg Candling
Step 1. Hold the egg above the light
Prepare candling equipment in a dark room close to the incubator. Pick an egg from the incubator and hold it over the light. The correct way to do this is as follows:
- Place the larger end of the egg (where there is an air pocket) directly facing the light. Hold the egg near the top, between your thumb and forefinger. Tilt the egg slightly to one side and twist until you get the best view.
- While doing this, you should mark each egg with a number and note what you find. That way, you can compare the results of your first candle with the results of your second candle.
- Try to work quickly, but not so fast that you risk dropping the eggs. As long as the eggs are returned to the incubator within twenty to thirty minutes, the candling process will not pose a risk to their development. Hens will often leave their eggs for short periods of time while the mother incubates them.
- Note that it will be more difficult to wax brown or mottled eggs because the dark crust does not become transparent under light.
Step 2. Look for signs that the egg is a good egg (winner)
A good egg is an egg that successfully develops an embryo. You can tell by the following signs:
- There will be a network of visible blood vessels scattered from the middle of the egg out.
- With a weaker wax, you may be able to see clearly the bottom of the egg (which has air sacs) and darker the top of the egg (where the embryo develops).
- With a good wax, you can see the dark outline of the embryo in the center of the network of blood vessels. You're most likely looking at the embryo's eye, which is the darkest spot inside the egg.
- If you're lucky, you can see the embryo move!
Step 3. Look for signs that eggs are quitters
Quitters are embryos that have stopped developing at some point during the incubation process for one reason or another. Some stop because of poor temperature or humidity, some are contaminated with bacteria, while others simply because they have bad genes.
- The main indication of a quitter is the development of a blood ring. The blood ring looks like a red circle, which is visible on the inside of the crust. It is formed when the embryo dies and the supporting blood vessels pull it from the center and rest on the crust.
- Other indications of a quitter egg include the development of blood spots or a layer of blood inside the egg. However, these dark patches can be difficult to distinguish from healthy embryos in the early stages.
- If you are 100 percent sure that the egg is a quitter (the appearance of a blood ring is a very clear sign) then you should dispose of the egg immediately to avoid it going bad and exploding in the incubator.
Step 4. Look for signs that the egg is a yolker
Yolker is an egg that has never been fertilized and has no chance to develop an embryo. You can tell an egg is a yolker using the following signs:
- The eggs look exactly the same as the first time you waxed them before placing them in the incubator.
- The inside of the egg is clearly visible, with no dark spots, veins or blood rings.
Step 5. If you are not sure, leave the eggs
If you think you've identified a yolker or quitter, but aren't 100 percent certain, don't throw it away just yet. If you throw them away, you run the risk of throwing away healthy eggs.
- Make a note of which eggs have question marks, then return them to the incubator. Give the egg a chance and a little more time.
- Check the eggs again with a question mark on the fourteenth day. If there are still no clear signs of progress or if a blood ring has finally formed, you can remove it.
