Next we need to cover 'candling' this will stop you having a very stinky incubator and believe me the smell of a rotten egg in an incubator has to be sniffed to believed! and if the incubator is in the house you will become very unpopular very fast!
You need to candle the eggs at 11 days, so that you can remove any eggs that have failed to start, you can candle after this as well if you are unsure of any eggs. Or for curiosity, candle during the lid off stage of the day.
For this you need:
1- A candling torch (I will show you how to make one below)
2- A dark room
3- A willing volunteer in the form of an egg!
First you will need a cardboard tube, a good one is found inside toilet rolls! Cut about a third off it (Try not to crush the tube!)
Next you need a good bright torch, LED torches are ideal.
You need to find one that's as close to the diameter of your tube as possible. As you need all the light to go down the tube. As what your trying to do is illuminate the egg bright enough to see what's going on inside!
If you can not find a wide one, create a cardboard end piece and secure to one end, before attaching cut an aperture out of it to match your torch.
So what are you looking for?
Your looking for embryos that are developing, embryos that have died and embryos that have failed to start.
Embryos that have died or failed to start will need to be removed.
For candling itself you need a dark a room as possible, take your torch candler in one hand and hold your egg, securely in the other, then place the egg on top of the open end of the tube and before your eyes will be an illuminated egg where you will be able to see what's going on. Once you stop turning the eggs before hatching, do not candle again as the chicks need to settle in the eggs before the arduous task of hatching.
Good luck, it is truly magical watching them develop, and close to then end you may see a beak poking up into the clear air sack area!
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