This ultra bright, LED Torch. I found normal LED torches with batteries go dim as the batteries age, this one is rechargeable and you can top it up from time to time to keep it super bright. I will also explain some of the mysteries behind candling and help you get proficient at this skill, which is extremely useful for incubating and hatching. To candle properly, you will need your candler and a dark room. The darker, the better. It will help you see the egg contents. We expect to see either fertile eggs or clear eggs, as shown in our first candling after seven days, but occasionally the embryo starts to develop in a fertile egg and then dies. We call this “ early embryonic death” or sometimes just “early death”.

Nowadays, it is done with a small, powerful light that you can shine against and through the eggshell. Candling can give you an idea if the egg is progressing or whether there is a problem. As its’ name implies, originally, candling was done with a candle! A thin ring around the inside of the egg indicates an early death. The embryo died at the start of incubation, usually within a couple of hours. These eggs are easy to identify and remove, and I have included a photo below. Blue or green eggs can also cause some difficulty reading them because of the pigment being inclusive in the shell. Day 7 – should show an increase in the size of the vein web. You should also see the start of the air cell at the blunt end of the egg. Try to candle all the eggs on Day 7.

Keep a notebook and make frequent notations on your eggs. This way, you can determine if you need more humidity, less humidity or note any other thing that may occur, such as the early demise of the embryo, power outage, or even unusual weather events. To be honest, a small ultra-bright torch is all you need, you can use your hand between the egg and torch to make a good seal. If it does spill, your wax is either too hot or the tape wasn't positioned correctly. Wait until the wax left inside the mold hardens and covers the hole that way. Then carefully pour in the rest of the wax. If you have been able to separate the eggs into individual layers, that is most helpful, especially if you suspect your hens or rooster aren’t fertile. No, really, you don’t, but if you can, it takes some of the guesswork out of hatching and can help you to improve the chances of subsequent hatches.

Most candlers today use light-emitting diodes (LED’s) rather than electric bulbs. The advantage of LED is that it produces a bright white light without much heat. If you have had problems with bad hatches in the past, candling can sometimes help to see what goes wrong and give you some ideas to try to fix the problem for subsequent hatches as well. Using a regular pencil – no marker pens, the toxins can leach through the shell– you can mark the eggs as you desire. I usually number them 1 -12 etc. You can mark on the shell the size of the air cell, which breeds, color.Roll a funnel out of paper and place into the top hole of the egg. Make the hole bigger if you have to. Candling can be fun and interesting, especially if you have kids. It’s also a skill that will help you with your hatching proficiency in years to come.