[KahlanA]

So it's day 5 and weve candled to see how things are going!

After stressing about my previous porous Orpington eggs, one definitely looks clear, one is really really porous and I cant see much, and the third looks to have a bacterial ring. I've added some pics of this third egg.

The pekins seem to mostly have veins, again one is porous so hard to tell. I'm glad they are looking promising though as the orpingtons seem a little disappointing.

[HesterF]

Glad some are going well! Not sure what you mean by a bacterial ring - I think it's just an early loss isn't it? So it was a fertile egg but didn't progress for some reason.

[KahlanA]

There's definitely something in there although I can't see any veins. The ring is big though so concerned if that's what it is it could contaminate the other eggs?

[chrismahon]

It does indeed look like a bacterial ring KahlanA, which had formed very early. No danger of it exploding just yet though. You are a bit early candling I think, as until day 7 (day eggs go in is day zero) you are unlikely to see much. We don't bother until day 8 as it is best not to disturb the eggs in the first 7 days. Did you use an egg sanitizer? Brinsea do the solution and the other one we have bought is by Chicktec.

[Kimbo]

can you please tell us novices what we are looking for in the photos? Is it the dappling?
And please explain about egg sanitizing if you can. Thanks

[Eve]

Kimbo, it's difficult to see on KahlanA's pictures (a few more days will make a big difference) but if you google egg development or candling many more images will come up. What you're looking for is a red blob with veins stretching out - a bit like the shape of a spider. The dappling you refer to is the texture of the egg shell.


Egg sanitiser we only ever use if an egg is really dirty and yet we want to incubate it, but mostly they are clean anyway. It's just a liquid that you dilute. If you use normal soap or even just water to wash an egg with you take off the protective coating. Always use warm water to wash eggs with, btw, cold water draws bacteria in.
We do use the egg sanitiser for cleaning the incubator, which is before and after every hatch.


KahlanA, you could start a blog - I bet many novices would be enthralled! 
I can't see much on the pictures of a blood ring but it'll become obvious in the next few days how your eggs are doing. It's all very exciting, isn't it!

[chrismahon]

The bacterial ring can be seen on the third photo. It is a slight red discolouration visible as a circular perimeter, the centre of which would be the point of infection through the egg shell I suppose.


The dappling is local variation in the shell density. The Leghorn eggs I put into our incubator a few hours ago all candled in a similar manner -nothing to worry about.


We always use sanitizer because even fingers can harbour bacteria. For that reason eggs should be handled as little as possible and hands must be washed thoroughly. This is something we have realised over time -best hatch rates are if everything is kept clean. Our previous hatch of 20 had zero failures due to bacteria but we lost two due to excess humidity. The eggs are put into the sanitizer and then into the incubator still wet.

[Kimbo]

I see, thanks......well, I think I see! Not easy when you are inexperienced. So has the bacteria somehow got through the eggs protective coating or was it inside the egg from the beginning?
Sorry you must think Im very stupid 

[Eve]

No, Kimbo, we don't!  And actually, that was a good question about those bacteria. As far as I'm aware a blood ring is related to early death, so it would be an internal problem, but maybe it depends what caused the death of the embryo.


I wonder if shell thickness or uniformity might have a considerable influence. We normally have a 90-100% hatch rate of our fertile cream legbar eggs, yet I handle them a lot because I can't resist candling nearly daily just to see the progress. I don't disinfect my hands nor normally the eggs, but I do wash my hands throughout the day a lot so they'd be clean anyway. The shells aren't like the ones on KahlanA's photos, though, they are much more uniform in density.

When I enlarge the photographs they come up larger than my screen allows so I can only see part of them. Meh.

[KahlanA]

Thank you all!

I know my pictures aren't clear, I'm going to try and get better ones when I next candle.

Eve - thank you for your advice! Funnily enough I have just started a little newbie chicken blog  I'm becoming rapidly obsessed and I don't even have any chickens yet! Lol

I have yet to speak to the breeder as I missed his call but I'd be interested to know if it is a regional variance as two of the three orps are speckled/porous like these and neither promising!

Kimbo - please comment away! This is my first time ever doing anything chickeny so I'm the least knowledgeable of anyone!

Chrismahon - thank you for confirming my suspicions. No I haven't used sanitiser  I'll learn for next time. I wash my hands before touching them of course, but only with normal handwash.

I know I shouldn't be handling them too much but I'm loving the learning process of seeing how they're doing. Plus I'm now panicked one could explode at any minute haha

[Kimbo]

You are very brave KahlanA! Best of luck to you.
Its all so terribly tricky I think. Its a wonder how broody hens do it all by themselves!

[KahlanA]

More photos! And I'm now wondering if actually it wasn't a bacterial ring, and has a chick developing, or is a blood spot. It's just soooooo hard to tell in these mottled eggs!

Definitely can't see much in either of the other two orps, and a couple of the pekins are looking good!

[KahlanA]

These two are what I thought was the bad egg. I swear there was a bacterial ring!

[KahlanA]

These are two of the 'good' pekins, and I think the last is the porous pekin.

[NicandChic]

I'm terrible for candling, I've a cheap incubator and turn the eggs manually 3 x each day...last turn I candle almost daily, I love to see the chicks develop it's amazing....hatching is even better 
I've not long hatched 10/11 light Sussex chicks - 1 never pipped/died in its egg, then lost 2 chicks - got sticky bottoms/ came to the conclusion I had the heat lamp too close and basically roasted them, lesson learnt!
I've currently got 5 Sumatran eggs in the incubator due to hatch next weekend, will stop turning them on Wednesday and keep our fingers crossed, all been developing well! 
Good luck with your hatch

(I'd leave the ones your not sure about, a few more days won't do any harm)