2. • The eggs should be turned three times a day.
Turning the eggs is best done by removing
about a dozen from the center and rolling the
rest of them toward the center. Place the
palms of your hands on the eggs and roll
them around until you are sure all have been
turned, and then put the eggs taken from the
center around the outer edge.
3. Use care in turning eggs to avoid shocks or
jars that may rupture the blood vessels of the
germ. Do not leave eggs standing on end.
Keep them flat, pushing the pointed ends
down a little with the hand. With a soft lead
pencil, put a small "X" on one side of egg and
"O" on the other side so you can be sure of
turning the eggs
4. • Place turner on bottom of incubator with the
motor side to the back of the incubator (rim
of bottom with notches is the back). Slide
turner as close as possible to the front rim of
bottom of incubator. Be sure the turner sits
flat on the wire floor.
5. • Use a serrated kitchen knife to cut out the
notch in the corner by the motor. This will
permit the electric cord from the motor to
exit from the incubator.
• Run the electric cord through the notch and
press to the bottom of the notch.
6. Candling
• What is Candling?
• Candling is a way of checking the fertility of
an egg and the development of the
embryo, with the use of a light source in a
darkened
room.
In
a
darkened
room, carefully hold the egg up to the light to
observe the contents of the egg.
7. Candling Results
The embryo is located at the large end of the
egg, where blood vessels will be present
under the surface if the egg is fertile. The
embryo appears as a dark spot which
becomes larger as the incubation period
continues.
8. • Fertile egg
The egg will appear to have a black spot which as
the embryo grows and incubation continues will
grow larger until light will only pass through the
air cell end of the egg.
• Infertile egg
Eggs appear clear.
9. Dead Embryo:
If the egg was fertile but the embryo has died
then you will see a blood ring around the
yolk or possibly a dark spot dried to the
inside of the shell depending on when the
embryo stopped growing.
Note that dark or brown shelled eggs are
more difficult to candle than white or pale
shelled eggs.
10. When To Candle
• Candling can be done at any time, although
day 8 onwards is usually when the embryo is
more easily identified.
• Day 3 of incubation (usually pale shelled
eggs).
11. When To Candle
• Day 5/6 of incubation (usually dark shelled
eggs).
• Between day 8 - 12 of incubation (embryo
more easily identified).
• 3 days prior to hatching.
12. How to candle
• To candle, darken the room. Eggs can be out
of the incubator (or away from a broody hen)
for up to 20-30 minutes before starting to
cool down inside, so don't rush. You can
GENTLY roll the egg on the candler to get the
best view.
13. How to candle
• Out of the 14 eggs in this batch, we removed
nine by day 14 that were obviously not
developing. There is a chance that a nondeveloping egg will explode in the 'bator, and
that is messy and STINKY.
14. Stop Candling
• One should not candle after day 16 or 17. The
eggs are mostly chick (black mass) and air sac
by then anyway, and they should be left
alone for the last few days before hatching
(no turning from day 18-hatch).
15. • Stop egg turning 2 or 3 days before hatch is
due. Remove the rods.
• When first egg pips, raise humidity to
maximum this can be done by adding warm
water to both pans
• Keep the incubator lid on and don’t interfere!
Humidity will rise rapidly when chicks
emerge and condensation may form.
16. • When most eggs have hatched (12 to 48
hours) remove hatchlings to a brooder to dry
out.
• Do not open the incubator unless it's
extremely necessary
17. • Eggs candling clear
But showing blood or very small embryos on
breaking. Incubator temperature too high.
• Eggs stored below 40 or above 80° F. before
setting.
