Candling eggs

Well, I candled one of my hens eggs today. My first time to ever do such a thing. I was a bit scared to even touch the egg, but knowing that I probably have to touch it to look at it made it easier to do so. When I reached in to pick one up, the little momma didn't even move. She looked up at me and took a few half-hearted nips, but was not going to move from on top of her eggs. I gently rolled her to the side and picked one up. When I looked at it, I saw what I'm pretty sure was an air bubble at one end and some definite vessels running through the egg. I didn't have a great light so I didn't bother doing the rest of them. I figured that since I didn't know for sure what I was looking for and I didn't have a really good light to look for it with, there wasn't a whole lot of sense in causing the little hen any more stress than I already had to not accomplish much.
That said, from the research I've done and the pictures I've seen, I believe the one egg I looked at is probably fertile and growing. She has a total of five eggs, so I'm hoping that she'll hatch all five. It'll be fun to see!

Congrats!!
Once you have some experience looking at the eggs, you'll be able to tell if they're fertile or not just by looking without even picking them up.

Update on my candling experience...

12/14, I finally got a good little flashlight and candled all of the eggs. I was able to determine that 4/5 were fertile. I could see the vessels and the air-sac in the eggs, and they had a definite reddish tint that the non-fertile egg didn't have.

12/19, Yesterday, I took another peek and saw two well developed chickies and the beginning of a third. The oldest of the chicks was bouncing off the walls! It was really cute! I wish I had a video camera good enough to take a video of it so I could share, cause if you've never seen it, it's really a miraculous thing to witness.

I'm soooo impatient for "MY" eggs to hatch I can hardly stand it... I don't know what it'll be like when I've got more than one bird on eggs! LOL!

I'm enjoying following along on this wild ride!

You know, If I lived anywhere near you, I'd be the first to buy one of your babies!

they are fun to watch in the egg. It's quite a trip watching them bounce around. Quite alien like. Wait until they're about 2-3 days to hatching. You'll hear them cheeping in there. You can cheep at them and they cheep back from inside.

Who needs Alien, we have alien creatures among us!

Like PDB said, it really is quite a trip! I've got so much to say I've started a blog... I've made one entry so far, and chances are nobody will ever read it, but I wanted to make sure I get it all written down anyway - even if it's only for myself! LOL!

I really AM having a BLAST!!!

Link to blog? Please?

terrorizing little itty bitties with the light ? Reckon they are bouncing off the walls.

ScooterNScotty wrote:

Link to blog? Please?

Yes, that! You mustn't tease us like this!!

You might have a more delicate touch than I do - The first time I tried to candle finch eggs, I had been breeding tiels and conures for a few years. I had read that finch breeders candle finch eggs, so I didn't think twice about it. I squished the poor egg! I've never candled another finch egg since.

LOL! OK, fine! Here it is... A Bunch of Budgies

patdbunny wrote:

You might have a more delicate touch than I do - The first time I tried to candle finch eggs, I had been breeding tiels and conures for a few years. I had read that finch breeders candle finch eggs, so I didn't think twice about it. I squished the poor egg! I've never candled another finch egg since.

Oh no! I don't think I'll have the nerve to candle a finch egg. In fact, the more I read about breeding finches, the more I think I can't do it. They have to have the temperature just right, the nests just right, the humidity just right.... I'm afraid if I look at them wrong I'll ruin everything and the whole house of cards will come tumbling down!