First Time Egg Candling Advice... and Interpretation

[rrmulkey]

Here's my story...

I ordered 6 eggs from a hatchery. They were shipped out Tuesday (a day after laying), so they are currently 6 days out; they arrived at my house Friday. Three of the eggs I am taking to school tomorrow to try to hatch in my fancy little electric incubator; three I kept at home to attempt to hatch in my cheap, turn-em-yourself incubator. I figured the eggs at home don't have a great chance of success, but I thought I'd try anyway.

The home eggs have been sitting in the incubator since Friday evening (about 2 days), and I decided to try candling for the fun of it (and so I don't look like an idiot in front of my class!). Here were my results:

Egg 1: Seems to have a line around the circumference of the egg about 1/3 of the way up from the bigger end.

Egg 2: Can't see a thing

Egg 3: Has a dark mass free floating in the egg


Any hints for a newbie as to what this could mean? From the pictures I've seen on the internet, the line seems to be a bad thing, but what about eggs 2 & 3?

Thanks! I'm having a lot of fun!

 

[speckledhen]

First of all, you are candling too early if I understood you correctly. I wouldn't even try till about 5-7 days of incubation, at least. You can't interpret what you're seeing, if anything, yet. Not at two days. What are the egg colors? Brown? Cream? Darker eggs may take up to 10 days to see anything conclusive.

 

[rrmulkey]

Cynthia - thanks! I was starting to panic, even though I don't have really high hopes for success for these three little guys at home. All three eggs are cream to very light brown in color; I asked for an assortment figuring it would be more fun for my class. I will wait a few more days before trying again... and will probably have more questions!

 

[speckledhen]

Yeah, it's much more satisfying to candle when you can really have the possiblity of seeing those veins radiating out from a little peep! And I use an old projector turned on its end to candle-it gets hot, but boy, can I see everything! A maglite flashlight is also great.