Water candling day 14 and I have 2 sinkers

[RVAnnie]

I just water candled all my eggs that are on day 14 in the incubator. I have 2 sinkers. Should I be worried even though light candling shows an active chick. Please don't criticize me for candling- I know the risks. I'm looking for some help please from more experienced people than me. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Whether an egg floats or sinks depends solely on how much moisture has been lost. It has nothing to do with whether there is a live chick in there or not. Different egg shells have different porosities, the egg whites can have different thicknesses (either stiffer or more watery), some eggs are stored longer than others before incubation started and maybe the humidity was pretty low when they were stored so they will have lost more moisture before incubation started. There are a lot of different reasons why some eggs might float where others sink.

In my opinion, light candling is much more informative than water candling.

 

[WalnutHill]

Whether an egg floats or sinks depends solely on how much moisture has been lost. It has nothing to do with whether there is a live chick in there or not. Different egg shells have different porosities, the egg whites can have different thicknesses (either stiffer or more watery), some eggs are stored longer than others before incubation started and maybe the humidity was pretty low when they were stored so they will have lost more moisture before incubation started. There are a lot of different reasons why some eggs might float where others sink.

In my opinion, light candling is much more informative than water candling.

Water candling is only helpful when light candling is not helpful due to shell color or size of embryo obscuring the view. Water candling is NOT dropping an egg into water to see if it sinks. Whether it floats or sinks, a viable and moving embryo will actively move the egg in the water, with gentle ripples midway through incubation or violent movement in the final days. And if the embryo is at rest, you may not see the motion, same as with light candling. And since you are at day 14, light candling will show you what you need to see, that the embryo fills about half the egg and that strong veining is present and that the air cell is about 1/4" thick, if all is on track.


There are more ways to have a failed incubation than a successful one. It's critical to be sure to measure everything the same way, with calibrated instruments, measure frequently, and keep good logs. Otherwise when you do have a successful hatch, you won't know how you got it.

 

[BoiseChik]

Hello, Can I ask a water candling question? I am hatching eggs with a broody hen for the first time and we are on day 18. She is sitting on 14 eggs of various breeds, and curiosity got the better of me today and so I water candled all of them. Of the 14, 2 had definite movement, the other 12 seemed pretty still, and all floated except one sank. Is this reliable info at this point, and does this mean that there are two alive and maybe 12 dead?