How do I candle an egg?

[sweetCarmen]

How do I candle an egg? I keep reading about it, but I'm not sure how to do it. I have 5 little eggies now, I'm really excited, but I don't know if they're fertile.

[Lindades264]

Hello, I chose not to candle when my birds laid eggs. I just let nature take care of itself and they were all fertile, to my surprise.

I found this on another site. This fellow is a very knowledgeable breeder. He helped me to raise my babies. I really trust the advise he gives.

Get a small pen light with a strong light beam and remove the eggs one at a time and place them carefully on the lens. Veins and dark areas should be visible within indicating fertility. Replace egg immediatley and move on to the next one. No veins after 8 days indicates a dud at which time it should be removed.

[linda040899]

I use a small Mini Maglite Flashlight with an adjustable beam to candle my eggs. I just hold the flashlight against the side of the egg so that I can see the inside of it. Removing an egg from the nest can be risky, as eggs can be dropped. The floor of my aviary is concrete and concrete is very unforgiving of anything that hits it! I leave all eggs in the nest, as even infertile ones serve a purpose. Wee ones use them to lean against when they are tiny and the extra eggs prevent mom from sitting too hard on the young babies.

[Keltoth]

I also wanted to add one other note of caution: using a penlight/flashlight/maglite type device to candle your eggs has one additional risk; if you leave the lit device in one general spot or one side of the egg too long, the heat from the bulb can allegedly heat up the delicate, developing embryo and cause damage to the developing chick and/or cause DIS (Dead In Shell) eggs. If you feel the end of some of these devices that have been on for 60 seconds or longer, it can actually be too hot to hold with your bare fingers on the more powerful Xenon-gas bulbs that are popular in today's mini-flashlights.

In the case of candling eggs, you do not need an extremely powerful lightsource to see the veins in an egg. In my opinion, you and your birds would be well served in using an LED lightsource to candle, rather than a lightsource with a conventional light-bulb. The LED devices put out virtually no heat- certainly none that you can feel with your fingertips - and thus gives you a greater cushion of safety as far as inadvertantly damaging an embryo due to heating up the contents of one side of an egg.

I use this (http://www.quality-items-flashlights.com/images/content/7582-small-flexible-light-o.jpg) device, the Coast LED-Lenser LL7564. Using this small device (the non-neck portion is about 3/4 the length on my pinky finger and smaller in diameter than my pinky, or roughly the size of an "AA" battery) with its flexible neck, I can leave the eggs exactly where they are in the nest without having to disturb them at all, and can easily see the contents of an egg - all with no worries about causing damage to the embryo due to heat-related issues. I bought mine at a local Fred Meyer's grocery store (now Smith's Marketplace here in Utah) for $12.95 USD, but you can go directly to their website at http://www.quality-items-flashlights.com/product_info.php/info/p11587_Coast--LED-Lenser--LL7564-360--Flexible-Light-Small--Blue-LED.html and order it direct for $11.95 USD + shipping.

- Eric

[linda040899]

Thanks, Eric
I know the tips of some of the egg candlers get hot very quickly but I've never thought about the mini flashlights. Of course, I don't think I'm even in the nestbox for 60 seconds, either! I just look at one egg and go directly to the next one. :)

[Keltoth]

Sure thing, Linda. Yup, if I just have one nest that I am candling, 60 seconds is more time than I need, but when I have 7 hens at once with eggs like I did earlier this year, I can imagine that a conventional light would heat up quickly. I also tended to take alot longer to look at an egg back when I first learned how to do it, and I am fairly certain I caused two of Valencia's and one of Anna's eggs to go DIS duing my first breeding season from using a conventional light to candle, simply due to my inexperience and lack of knowledge. Having a cool (as in temperature) lightsource that is compact and has a flexible neck just helps me minimize my risks to my eggs.

- Eric

[linda040899]

Eric,
Have a good laugh on me. Would you believe that I actually turn off the flashlight between nestboxes! Don't ask me why, I just do..... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Keltoth]

Yah, I would think that I would turn it off as well, but once the bulb is heated it takes less time for it to return to a high temperature when you turn it back on a few seconds later. If you are paying attention and are aware of the heat concern, the risk can be mitigated by simply taking a few extra moments in between each nest-check; however, if you are like me and forget because you are easily distracted and in a hurry, you can heat up an egg before you catch your mistake.

For me, it's a case of me knowing my own limits and what I am capable of doing in the right circumstances (or wrong circumstances, as the case may be). Could I make it all work using a lightsource with a conventional bulb? You bet - but by using an LED, I have vastly more leeway when I am being a bonehead and not concentrating on the task at hand and managing my heat risk, and so the LED eliminates one extra thing to conciously think of and control while checking eggs. With the LED being competitive price-wise with normal lights, it just makes more sense for me and my limitations to hedge on the side of safety; there just is no good reason for me NOT to use an LED over a conventional light-source.

- Eric