This may seem obvious to some, but I'm not very experienced in poultry raising yet. I'd like to be able to tell if chicks are growing in the eggs my chooks are brooding on. How is 'candling' done?
Probably the easiest way would be to cover the face of a torch with a peice of carboard with a small hole cut out (about the size of coin, I'm am aussie so I dont know your coins) and in a dark room place the egg over the hole and you will be able to see into it.
A small flashlight in a dark room works pretty well, too, for general candling. To see really well, it's best to use an intense light. Commercial candlers use something like a brooder shield with a cover that has a small hole in it. The hole could be about the size of a quarter.
I think a torch and chook in Australia are a flashlight and hen in the USA. Can't say what coin is the size of a quarter down under.
Thank-you so much!! It sounds easy and fun, plus much less muck under my girls from 'exploded' rotten eggs - yea!
The hole for the light should be just a little smaller than the egg when turned end ways, that is, the small way. The idea is to prevent outside light from coming through the hole. Good luck, and thanks for your good-humored message.
I was raised as a chicken, er.... I was brought up with the chickens... Oh well! You know what I mean. If you take a cigar size box and cut a hole in one end that is about 3/4 of an inch (2cm) in dia. then put a flashlight (torch) that has a Krypton bulb in it and use a wire through the sides to secure the flashlight you will have a really fine candling unit. Make sure the lens of the flash light is about an inch away from the end and side of the box. Just do not leave the egg there to long or they will be well done. The flashlights do get hot. You can punch holes in the lid and bottom to allow for ventilation and the box will not be so hot.
So what then is the difference between a fertilized egg and an edible egg. What do you look for?
Keith, All fresh eggs and properly stored eggs are EDIBLE! AND equally tasty and nutritous! The only difference is that fertilized egg could be incubated and hatched. And you CANNOT tell the difference because it isn't detectable. There is nothing to look for!
Still don't know what you are supposed to see when you candle an egg. Is candling used to determine freshness? Please describe in detail what one might see when candling and what it means.
Nadine, When eggs are packed for sale, they should have been weighed and candled. An egg with no internal defects, allows the light to shine through, clear, --the yolk seen only as the faintest shadow The light shining through the shell will show meat spots, blood spots, cracks in the shell, too fine to be seen, mottled pigment in the shell, instead of a clear egg, and so these eggs are rejected for sale, but certainly are edible, just not saleable. Candling does not indicate freshness.
Thanks, Lisa
By Anonymous on Saturday, December 16, 2000 - 12:35 am:
PS The think end not the pointy end over the light.
By Dr. Bruce Smith (Brucesmith) on Saturday, December 16, 2000 - 09:06 am:
By Anonymous on Saturday, December 16, 2000 - 11:35 am:
By Austchooklover on Saturday, December 16, 2000 - 05:31 pm:
I'm also an Aussie and my signiture was suppose to be 'Auschooklover' but, (tee he he), after all information had been entered I found my typo. Looks short for Austrian chicken lover, doesn't it!?
Definately flashlights are torches and chickens are chooks in Australian slang. Dr. Bruce How big is a quater? Is it as big as a 5, 10, 20 or 50 cent piece? Is the size of the hole majorly important?
Thanks again everyone!!!
cheers, Lisa
By Dr. Bruce Smith (Brucesmith) on Saturday, December 16, 2000 - 06:13 pm:
By Magiturtle on Saturday, January 13, 2001 - 01:49 pm:
By Keith Murray (Bornigan) on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 11:33 am:
By Cjeanr on Thursday, February 1, 2001 - 12:36 pm:
Just for the record: MOST store eggs come from hens raised without roosters, those hens are kept just for egg production. No fertilized eggs ever reach Super Markets that purchase eggs in quantity. Smaller stores may purchase eggs locally, and almost all of these eggs, also will be from farms that do not keep roosters. Those of us with family flocks with roosters may assume that all of our eggs are fertilize, whether we ever hatch chicks or not--but we have that option.
So the question is moot, unless you raise chicks! Now you know. CJR
By Nadine Wisniewski (Nadwizz) on Sunday, May 6, 2001 - 10:32 pm:
By Cjeanr on Monday, May 7, 2001 - 02:04 am:
Candling is also done with eggs being incubated for hatching, either under a hen, or in an incubator. At 4-5 days, there is a red "spider" visible as a red spot with red "legs", which is the embryo and veins which grow around the inside of the shell--very exciting observation for those of us who hatch chicks!