Candling Eggs at Day 7

We candled our eggs at the 7 day mark to check each one for development.

The appearance of spidery veins, and a faint but slightly moving dark spot in the egg indicates that there is a growing embryo inside. Due to the shell color, blue, green, and dark brown eggs are more difficult to see inside of than light brown or white eggs are, even using a high powered candler.

After checking each egg, we mark it either with a “✓” (indicating obvious development), a “?” (indicating less obvious development), or with an “x” (indicating minimal or no perceived development. Some of the blue and green eggs were marked as a “?”, not because there was minimal development, but because at this stage the signs of growth are faint, and even though they may be present, it was difficult to discern what was happening inside of the egg. When we candle again in another 7 days, the signs of life will be more visible.

Eggs that show no developement at all, and have been marked with an “x” are removed and discarded. The last thing we want is for one of them to break and contaminate the incubator and other eggs inside.

Below is a short video showing and explaining what to look for when candling eggs at this stage.