Breeding Your Own Chicks
Candling

• Introduction to Breeding Your Own Chicks
• Breeding Stock
• Suitable Eggs for Breeding Your Own Chicks
• Incubators What to Look For in Egg Incubators
• Egg Turning
• Ideal Temperatures for Incubating Eggs
• Humidity for Incubating Eggs
• Candling Eggs
• Pipping & Hatching Eggs
• Optimum Conditions for Incubation and Hatching
• Useful Items for Incubation and Hatching

Candling is the process of holding an egg against a bright light in order to see the internal contents. The term comes from the fact that the first ones were candle-powered. It is easy to make your own candler by placing a bulb in a box with a hole in it. Then, it is simply a matter of holding the egg up to the hole when the bulb is switched on. Purpose-made candlers are also available from incubator suppliers.

Candling can be carried out before incubation in order to check for hairline cracks or other shell defects. It is also useful to do it seven days after incubation has started. This allows any non-fertile eggs to be identified and removed so that they do not provide a source of infection.

Diagram- Numbers indicate the correct size of the air cell
for the particular day during the incubation period.
Copyright © Katie Thear 2005

A developing embryo will be seen as a red blob with blood vessels radiating from it, looking rather like a starfish. It is essential to have scrupulously clean hands when handling the eggs. I’ve found that having a pack of baby or toddler wipes to hand is useful for wiping fingers if they have touched something else in the meantime.

Disposable, lightweight rubber gloves are also useful and are often used by professional breeders.

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Copyright © Katie Thear 2005