Pitch black eggs when candling?!

[Mrschi02]

Hi, I have never incubated eggs before and I’m really worried im going to mess something up. I made an incubator, bought a heat lamp and kept the heat at 100 degrees. I turn the eggs almost every hour. When I candled them about 4 days ago at day 6 I saw the veins in all of them 3/3. But now it’s day 10 and when I candle them, two of which are pitch black, but I’ve seen veins in them (4 days ago) The other one I see a black dot in but no veins. I’m pretty confident that that egg is a goner. I’m so confused of why the other eggs are pitch black!

 

[Pyxis]

What are you using to candle?

The one with the black dot but no veins sounds like it has died. If I was to speculate why, I'd assume that there was a temperature spike that killed them. A heat lamp is not a reliable way to heat an incubator, unfortunately.

Eggs can end up looking mostly black right before they hatch, but on day ten they shouldn't be at that stage yet, which is why I ask about what you're using to candle with. If you're using a cell phone light or a very weak flashlight, it might not be bright enough to see through the shell, especially in dark brown, olive, blue, and green eggs.

An egg on day ten should look like this:

Not all black, and with visible veins. With a good candler, you should be able to see this in just about any color eggs.

 

[GodofPecking]

nothing to worry about.

I've raised zillions of chickies out of eggs in an incubator, and annoyed many a sitting hen with my candling antics and worst of all swapping eggs under sitting hens and the like. Even moving hens who are sitting so they are safe from predators.

A black egg is no big deal. keep it in the incubator for a week or two after the others hatch to be sure, because it just doesn't matter. Occasionally a rotten one explodes in the incubator, but it's rare enough and no big deal.

There is a stage where the egg changes from blood vessels to black before eventually hatching. A chick is not transparent, and you need a chick before you can hatch a chick, ergo, there will be a time when you cannot see through the egg.

If you see veins, thats great, it means the egg is on its way. If you see movement happening on its own then thats a sure sign of life. If you see black across 80 % of the egg and a bubble at the end, no need to panic, just continue, some dont turn out and thats the way it is. If all dont turn out, you have to change what you are doing.

Certain signs of a dead egg would be
*any colour of liquid inside that moves freely around the egg when tilted if the egg has been more than a week in the incubator, indicating its rotten and completely liquid. the bubble moves around from one end to the other as you tilt the egg. thats a dead egg.

*a very very transparent egg after about two weeks which looks the same as one that has not been incubated. such an egg is not fertile.

other than that there is either a chance or not certainty. I can sometimes see that a developing egg has lost its veins and become somewhat liquid inside, and that is dead, but harder for a beginner to know for sure. when in doubt I just leave them in the incubator same as the rest of the eggs, after all, who cares about taking them out, explosions are not the end of the world and they are quite rare.

 

[GodofPecking]

also, a heat lamp by itself is not nearly as good as a home made incubator with a thermostat. a thermostat is really really worthwhile and will greatly improve your chances of success. eggs will develop under ridiculous extremes of temperature at first, but as they develop, they become more and more dependent on the exact temperature.

between the time of laying and first being incubated freezing temperatures are ok, but at week 2, 2 degrees more or less than required is going to stop them in their tracks,

a hen is best, just give her a LOT of food and a nice stable safe place and she will go broody for you, next best thing is a incubator with a thermostat and you turning eggs. But no thermostat would make things difficult. it can be done, but it's hard.

 

[Mrschi02]

What are you using to candle?

The ones with the black dot but no veins sound like they have died. If I was to speculate why, I'd assume that there was a temperature spike that killed them. A heat lamp is not a reliable way to heat an incubator, unfortunately.

Eggs can end up looking mostly black right before they hatch, but on day ten they shouldn't be at that stage yet, which is why I ask about what you're using to candle with. If you're using a cell phone light or a very weak flashlight, it might not be bright enough to see through the shell, especially in dark brown, olive, blue, and green eggs.

An egg on day ten should look like this:

Not all black, and with visible veins. With a good candler, you should be able to see this in just about any color eggs.

What are you using to candle?

The ones with the black dot but no veins sound like they have died. If I was to speculate why, I'd assume that there was a temperature spike that killed them. A heat lamp is not a reliable way to heat an incubator, unfortunately.

Eggs can end up looking mostly black right before they hatch, but on day ten they shouldn't be at that stage yet, which is why I ask about what you're using to candle with. If you're using a cell phone light or a very weak flashlight, it might not be bright enough to see through the shell, especially in dark brown, olive, blue, and green eggs.

An egg on day ten should look like this:

Not all black, and with visible veins. With a good candler, you should be able to see this in just about any color eggs.

Thank you for writing back, I was given a flashlight that is meant for candling eggs. I have not tried a phone light yet. One of my eggs is blue which makes it even more difficult to see through it.

 

[Kiki]

Look for a flashlight with at least 500 lumens.
Pitch black could mean dead and or bacteria has taken over.

 

[Pyxis]

Thank you for writing back, I was given a flashlight that is meant for candling eggs. I have not tried a phone light yet. One of my eggs is blue which makes it even more difficult to see through it.

Are you also candling in a dark room? Do you know how many lumens the candler has?

 

[Mrschi02]

also, a heat lamp by itself is not nearly as good as a home made incubator with a thermostat. a thermostat is really really worthwhile and will greatly improve your chances of success. eggs will develop under ridiculous extremes of temperature at first, but as they develop, they become more and more dependent on the exact temperature.

between the time of laying and first being incubated freezing temperatures are ok, but at week 2, 2 degrees more or less than required is going to stop them in their tracks,

a hen is best, just give her a LOT of food and a nice stable safe place and she will go broody for you, next best thing is a incubator with a thermostat and you turning eggs. But no thermostat would make things difficult. it can be done, but it's hard.

Thank you so so much, I was really worried I’m pretty sure that two of the eggs are dead, one there is goo floating around, and the yolk floats upward when I turn it, and the other one the veins are completely gone and it’s see through. The last one has a blue shell which I can’t see through at all, and everything seems to look good with it. I will definetly wait a little longer something I don’t have much of is paitience. So I’m hoping he’ll pull through for me...

 

[Mrschi02]

Are you also candling in a dark room? Do you know how many lumens the candler has?

A completely dark room and I don’t know how many it has, it doesn’t say but this is what it looks like

 

[Pyxis]

View attachment 1447244
A completely dark room and I don’t know how many it has, it doesn’t say but this is what it looks like

I'm suspecting it's a candler problem - does it take batteries?