Egg Candling - Day By Day

I received a couple of e-mails today w/ egg questions. At this point, I get these type questions fairly often...  sometimes daily depending on the time of year.   What?  You don't get egg e-mails? :0) 

Anyway, the two I got today... I can't even remember them being my customers.  This is fine, glad to help.  But it got me thinking maybe I'd start blogging about the whole incubation process.  I also thought I'd take some pictures, especially of the eggs, to show the growth of the embryo since candling seems to be a stumbling block for some at times, and photography is a stumbling block for me at times so... win win!  (Do people say that anymore?  Win Win?  I don't know.  I'm always behind.) 

Anyway, we'll see how far I get with this.  I'm not sure I can take pictures every single day.  In fact I know I'll miss a few.  Even so, I'll still be able to answer questions as they might come up, so fire away!  Hopefully I'll eventually be able to fill in any missed pictures from other egg settings.  By the time we're finished my hope is to have all the days documented and a video of a chick hatching.  I also thought I'd talk about incubators, temps, thermometers, quantum physics (jussst kidding), hygrometers or wet bulb thermometers, problem hatches and their causes, and any and all other things that come to mind. And we can talk about quantum physics, too, if you want but... somebody else is gonna have to lead the conversation and I'm gonna need some aspirin.   Anyway, if you have any incubation questions, or chicken questions in general, post them.  I'll do my best to answer.  In fact, I've thought of compiling some of the e-mails I've gotten.  Or not.  LOL! There's a lot. 

Okay! Here we go!

Not much happening yet! But don't worry, it will! The egg I'm using here is a blue Ameraucana egg.   (I know it looks yellow in this light.) It consists of the yolk, the albumen, the shell membrane, and the shell. You'll also notice about a dime sized air cell at the top, or fat end, of the egg. If this is a FERTILE egg, and it is, there is a small white spot on the yolk. All yolks have this "white spot" but in a fertile eggs it's larger... about twice the size than in non fertile eggs. You can only see this spot if you crack open the egg... so... just take my word for it here. :0)

Fat End Up

If you are just getting started, you have likely read or been told, "Set your eggs Fat End Up."  This is what we're talking about.   When you set your eggs in an egg turner, this is the end that should be UP. Always set your eggs fat end up.  Otherwise when it comes time for your chicks to hatch, they will pip on the wrong end of the egg and drown in the fluids. 

If you don't have an egg turner lay your eggs on their sides.  If you're only setting a small number of eggs, and you have the time and patience, TRY to lay the egg in such a way to have the fat end slightly higher.  Don't obsess.  We're not talking about standing your eggs on end or constructing little lounge chairs for them.  Just, if you can, have the fat end slightly elevated.  I can tell you, I set way too many eggs to take the time to worry about 'fat end slightly higher' when I'm not using a turner.  However, every little thing DOES help.  So, if you have the time and inclination, try to have the fat end a tad higher than the pointy end.

After one day, the white spot on the yolk is larger and has gone from several hundred to several thousand cells.  Candling still shows nothing other than the air cell at the top of the egg is a bit larger.   The air cell gets larger during incubation as moisture evaporates from the egg.   Keeping an eye on the size of the air cell can help you decide if you should increase or decrease your humidity.

Believe it or not after two days the white spot has already changed and the cells are forming the chick.  The spot is now an embryo.  By the third day the embryo looks like a backwards question mark and the heart is beating!

Can you see the blood vessels?  If you look carefully you can see what looks like faint spidery like veins.  But these are just the ones you can see by candling.  If you cracked open the egg you'd see blood vessels all over the yolk.  The heart is pumping blood through the vessels and back to the embryo, essentially feeding the chick by bringing food and water from the yolk.  How cool is that?! 

And, btw, you'd also be able to see the eye... just a dark round spot at this point... but... that's the eye!

Also, by the end of Day 4 an amniotic sac is now surrounding the embryo, protecting the chick as it develops.

You might notice the egg is different.  I switched to a lighter egg to get a better picture.  Trying to hold a flashlight JUST SO with one hand and a big camera in the other and actually get a picture is harder than you think!  :0)  I've now switched to a lighter colored egg which made things a bit easier for me to photograph. 

So.. What's going on in there with Junior today?  Well, you might notice there are more blood vessels!  Woo hoo!  The embryo is growing and needs more food from the yolk! The chick is floating in the amniotic sac, and if you cracked open the egg (and I don't want to KNOW if you do) you'd see little nubbies where wings and legs will eventually be!

Okay.  This is a picture of another DAY FIVE egg.  This egg is not alive.  It is a "quitter."  It began to develop but for some reason the embryo died.  It has formed what is called a BLOOD RING.  Blood rings can go all the way around or just be like what you see in this picture.  But, it is very distinctive and a sure sign the embryo has died.  If you candle your eggs and see any like this, remove them from your incubator and discard.

EGGIE BABY DAY SIX.  This is the first day I encourage my customers to candle their eggs.   Day six and day ten are the best (easiest for beginners) candling days.

What is candling and HOW do you do it? 
Candling is simply shining a light into the egg to see the contents.  The "Day__" photos you see here are candled eggs. 
What you need:  A candler or a small (but strong) flashlight and an egg that has been incubating for six days.

This is what I use.  I think I paid about $20 for it.  It works wonderfully for candling... and chasing fox barefoot through the back yard at two a.m.

I'll see if I can figure a way to take a picture of me candling.  There will, however, be no pictures of me windsprinting after the fox.  You're welcome.

Mooooving on....  Candling.  What you're trying to do is hold the egg in such a way that you can put the flashlight against the egg (fat end up) and see the contents.   So.  grab your six day old egg and a small flashlight and head for a windowless bathroom or closet.  Someplace where there is no light  Turn the flashlight ON and the closet light OFF and hold your flashlight right against the shell of your egg.  The trick is to shine the light THROUGH the egg, not ON the egg.

In later years I have often wondered what my then small children must have thought Mama was DOING. 

Child #1:  "Where's Mama?" 
Child #2:  "She's locked herself in the dark with a flashlight and a bunch of eggs again..." 
Child #1:  "Oh." (Dials Oprah.)

Anyway....

Can you see it?  Looks sort of like a SPIDER, doesn't it?   You will often hear "spider like" when you read about candling eggs.  This is what they mean.

By day six another sac is now growing called an allantois membrane.  The allantois  membrane is full of blood vessels that get oxygen from the air, carries it to the embryo, and then carries carbon dioxide away.  The embryo breathes even though it's surrounded by fluid!  Such Intelligent Design! :0)

More later.  Trying to fit this in as I have time.  :0) 

Folks, please don't copy/paste this elsewhere w/out giving me credit and linking back to here.     Thanks!

EGGIE BABY DAY SEVEN.    Welllll... there seems to have been a bit of a GAP between my last candling post and now!  Woops!  It's difficult to take the time to photograph and upload each and every day.  I'll try to do better.  In any event, scroll down, I have a treat.  I managed to video the chick moving around in the egg on day seven. YAY!

Photo of an egg at day seven of incubation. Notice a little more veining than on Day 6.

And here's the video.  You can really see the fetus moving around! That's right!  The embryo is now called a FETUS.  It has all of its "parts" or at least the beginnings of them. Everything is starting to form and develop.

As you can see in the video, the fetus floats around inside the amniotic sac, attached to the yolk by blood vessels which are growing around the yolk.  The clear part of the egg is the albumen.


EGGIE BABY DAY EIGHT.  Hey!  I managed to post TWO WHOLE DAYS IN A ROW!  Woot!!!   This could have something to do with this is the weeeeeeeeeeee kend!  That and I figured out the video camera! YAY ME!

Anyway, here we are with Junior on Day Eight.  He's still swimming around briskly in his little eggy space ship.  Pictures and video below!

So Junior has continued to grow in the last twenty four hours.  If you were to crack open the egg (reminder number TWO that I don't want to know, I don't want to know...) you'd especially notice growth in his wings and legs.  Remember, he only has 21 days from start to finish!  Things have to happen FAST in that little eggy house of his!    Also, you can't see it in the picture/video but the air cell at the fat end of the egg is getting bigger.  At the end of incubation Junior will poke through to that air cell and take his first breath!


EGGIE BABY DAY NINE.  At nine days incubation, Junior is really beginning to look like a baby chick.  His beak is clearly formed and his wings now actually look like chicken wings!  He sports a cute little nubby tail and he has very large eyes.  Pictures and video below!  Enjoy!

EGGIE BABY DAY TEN!  Not a lot more to report for day ten other than the chick continues to grow and fill out.  Here's another picture and video!

EGGIE BABY DAY ELEVEN! 

By day eleven Junior sports eyelids, can open and close his beak, and has little bumps on his skin that are the start of feathers!

EGGIE BABY DAY FIFTEEN!  

Whoops!  Yes, it appears I've missed a few days in between.  I will try to fill them in from the next batch.  In the mean time we'll continue on from here.  

Junior now has feathers and claws and is much bigger than just a few days ago!  

If you are enjoying these clips, please be so kind to "like" and "share" my videos.  Thanks!