What are you looking for when you candle coturnix quail eggs?

[rookbeak]

Day 4 of incubation. I have 5 quail eggs I'm trying to incubate for my first hatch. Out of the 5 I think 2 are infertile because they lit up pretty thoroughly when I tried candling them (but this is my first hatch so I'm leaving them in the incubator in case I'm wrong). The other 3 are completely dark when I candle them. I don't see any veins, gradation, or any vague shape of a chicken developing. It could be my flashlight isn't bright enough to show those details. What should I look for when I candle? And what flashlights do you guys recommending for candling?

Thank you :V

 

[InterestingChickens]

Blood rings or vains as well as no development. Blood rings mean the egg started to develop and then died, vains mean the egg is developing and of course, nothing means the egg is infertile or never started to develop.

 

[rookbeak]

Blood rings or vains as well as no development. Blood rings mean the egg started to develop and then died, vains mean the egg is developing and of course, nothing means the egg is infertile or never started to develop.

Right thank you. So yeah those two eggs that lit up are most likely infertile, and I guess my flashlight isn't powerful enough to show any veins or blood rings on the eggs that appear to have something developing in them. Or at least that's what I'm hoping

 

[ozzie]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coturnix-quail-egg-candling-guide.71783/

this is helpful. But yes you need a good light source and dark room.

 

[raingarden]

I never could candle-up anything in coturnix eggs and soon stopped trying.

 

[muddy75]

Candling coturnix eggs does take practice many people on here use bright flashlights and some use homemade holders. I really like incubrite candler because unlike my first candler it is battery powered.
if you post pictures, you can get help on here and it helps to candle more often as you are learning
@Kiki has some really good candling pictures

 

[FloorCandy]

I don’t candle until day 9 or so, you can see a definite difference by then, lots of veins, and most early quitters will have quit by then. If you only see darkness, that means your light isn’t bright or concentrated enough. I got a cheap plug in candler off amazon and it’s great. I think Myshire sells a good battery candler from what I’ve heard. At 4-5 days I wouldn’t be confident tossing eggs if your light isn’t strong enough to pass thru all the shells. If it still looks like a Christmas bulb at 9 days, you can toss it out then.

 

[rookbeak]

I don’t candle until day 9 or so, you can see a definite difference by then, lots of veins, and most early quitters will have quit by then. If you only see darkness, that means your light isn’t bright or concentrated enough. I got a cheap plug in candler off amazon and it’s great. I think Myshire sells a good battery candler from what I’ve heard. At 4-5 days I wouldn’t be confident tossing eggs if your light isn’t strong enough to pass thru all the shells. If it still looks like a Christmas bulb at 9 days, you can toss it out then.

Thanks for the advice! I definitely need to get a stronger light source, that's why I wasn't confident in tossing any eggs (though I did accidentally break one of them the other day, whoops lol)