Candling Eggs?

[Hawkmaster]

Just a few questions and please feel free to add to the post and ask more question related to this subject like on the equipment side for instance?

How long after the egg has been laid can one candle it, to tell if it is fertile or not?
Are all birds eggs as easy as each other to get a positive or negative answer?
Can they be damaged doing candling, from say the heat?

[MattSpar]

I've just candled merlin eggs after a week of incubation, and the results were pretty obvious.
If your candler gives out a lot of heat, it is possible to harm eggs. I do the job as quickly as possible.
I used to find spar eggs quite hard to test, as the shell was pretty impermeable to the light.
Those ultra-violet candlers are good, so I'm told, but I've never used one.

[Hawkmaster]

Thanks for that Matt.
What candler do you use Matt?

[MattSpar]

Home made, Heath Robinson affair. Either a strong bulb inside a tin (painted with matt black paint to cut down on glare), with a hole in the top, padded with foam, or, as a more portable version, one of the bigger Maglite torches with a cone of cardboard, also painted, over the end. Works for me, so long as I haven't lost my reading glasses.

[Tim Laycock]

Goshawks, about six days

[Hawkmaster]

Thanks Matt, so it does not always have to cost a fortune?

So it would be possible to Know for certain in such a short period, that is interesting.

What kit did you use BB?

[MattSpar]

Thanks Matt, so it does not always have to cost a fortune?

So it would be possible to Know for certain in such a short period, that is interesting.

What kit did you use BB?

For thicker, or I should say, more densely shelled eggs, an ultra-violet job may well be a necessity. One of the commercial breeders will be able to tell you more than I can.

[Tim Laycock]

Thanks Matt, so it does not always have to cost a fortune?

So it would be possible to Know for certain in such a short period, that is interesting.

What kit did you use BB?

The chap who is running by eggs uses a brinsea egg lume I believe.

May not be the exact make but its of the same ilk

[KenHawker1970]

1. normally about ten days.
2. yes.
3. no. as long as you just use a small torch. i.e if you use a 1 million candle power lamp you will soon cook them.

Ken

[Tim Laycock]

You will not manage to candle Goshawk eggs with a torch :!:

You will succed in flattening the battery but as far as ascertaining fertility a torch
is as much use as a cadburys patented fire guard :rolleyes: :yawinkle:

Fine for falcon eggs though.

[KenHawker1970]

lmao

[Tim Laycock]

:yawinkle: I try :lol:

[Miguel]

I've used a Brinsea too... I would like to try one of those new gadgets that scan the egg and give you lots of info, but I think that it might be expensive.

[Shaun Byrne]

If you are going to make a candler Paul use a compact florescent lamp instead of a normal TF Lamp. You will get more light without the heat.

[Hawkmaster]

Personally I think getting the real deal is probably better, I have a mate that has a Brinsea one he uses with quail?

[Tim Laycock]

Will work fine in total darkness at the right time for the egg

[Goshawks00]

I too you the Brinsea cool-lume for goshawk eggs and it is worth the money. As fas as candling 8-10 is what I usually shoot for. HNot all eggs and the same due to different thicknesses of the shell, goshawks being one of the toughest to candle.
Barry

[Lurcer]

just to add a bit of a note for all here, i have used a simple single LED torch as a candler, the sort you have on a key ring.... this works an absolute treat, and prodces very little damagiing heat. highly recomend it! just figure out a form of holding the egg, i have used a disposable plastic mouth tube for a medical peak flow metre, ask your local GP or casulty for one...or perhaps fake having an astma attack?!?!?
stu

[Hawkmaster]

Stu, on what eggs were you using it?

[Tim Laycock]

just to add a bit of a note for all here, i have used a simple single LED torch as a candler, the sort you have on a key ring.... this works an absolute treat, and prodces very little damagiing heat. highly recomend it! just figure out a form of holding the egg, i have used a disposable plastic mouth tube for a medical peak flow metre, ask your local GP or casulty for one...or perhaps fake having an astma attack?!?!?
stu

Will not work on a Goshawk egg!

[Lurcer]

i have used this on harris eggs and it works perfectly.... i have a friend who uses it on goss egs, but his has 2 bulbs, which creates enough lights by far..... all i can say is try it, if it doesnt work that youve lost 2 or 3 quid and a fake astma atack, if it works youve saved 20 odd quid?!?!?
stu

[Tim Laycock]

More chance of it working with more bulbs :lol:

<btw> third egg in my clutch was infertile :(

[GosFlyer]

More chance of it working with more bulbs :lol:

<btw> third egg in my clutch was infertile :(

BB were the first two fertile m8,:rolleyes:

[Sparrow Hawker]

Has anyone got any pictures they'd like to share with us, that takes you through each of the stages of incubation whilst the eggs are viewed under a candler.

I've just purchased a Brinsea cool lume candler (the expensive one) this is supposed to generate very little heat, been having a go with it looking at my quail eggs, got it for in prepartion if my spars lay. It's the first time I've used one of these things and it is very interesting looking at the embryos as they develop inside the egg.

SH

[Tim Laycock]

BB were the first two fertile m8,:rolleyes:

First two were definate clears due to having no semen that early on.

The fourth is the last hope.

(Its a good job Im not trying to make money I need :lol: )

[GosHawking2Day]

First two were definate clears due to having no semen that early on.

The fourth is the last hope.

(Its a good job Im not trying to make money I need :lol: )

Martin's got his fingers crossed M8 :wink:

[Tim Laycock]

I bet his fingers are crossed its a male :wink: :lol:

[Goshawks00]

Spar hawker there is a very good book out called practical incubation that shows the development of an egg through it's incubation,a nice read for basic tech stuff.
As far as candling spar eggs , you can get by with a small flashlight and didn't need the cool-lume as the spar egg are thin like Harris eggs. Also a word to the wise - the more you fool around with your eggs the more chances there will be the you'll screw them up , by dropping, severe motion , contamination, etc. Put them in the inc and leave them alone.
JMO,
Barry

[Hawkmaster]

Practical Incubation: For Game Birds, Ratites, Parrots, Softbills and Falcons (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0888393105/203-4968049-8939106)

[Zappa]

i shall tell u the best candler to get this is a old projector, the ones u used to watch the old slides on, these make super candlers, the best i ave seen by far and i ave used a lot of different candlers, these projectors usually have a fan on them aswell ... drawing the heat away from the egg not cooking the egg, in front of the bulb is a magnified piece of glass and this makes the light very brite,u can usally see if the egg is fertile with in secs u can pick these up on ebay for around £15_20 the best money u will ever spend.....:supz:

[Ant]

Brinsea do three types of candlers 1) Standard Lume for Poultry 2) High Intensity for Game 3) High Intensity Cool Lume for Raptors. I use No3 and can highly recommend it. One point of note with candling is good hygiene lots of eggs are contaminated by the transferring of bacteria using this method.
Ant.

[Hawkmaster]

Sure a spray with F10 will sort that?

[LeesHawks]

i shall tell you all, leave them alone, throw your candeler away, bin it you cause more damage candling eggs than you realise, i havent candled for 4 /5 years, i use a egg buddy at 16 days and that has been 100% right, safer than candling and what can you do if they are not fertile at that stage anyway ??? about the same as when you candle....jack s**t.
by the way my success rate doubled with goshawks when i stop candling the eggs and left them too it.

regards

lee featherstone

[AvianManagement]

i shall tell you all, leave them alone, throw your candeler away, bin it you cause more damage candling eggs than you realise, i havent candled for 4 /5 years, i use a egg buddy at 16 days and that has been 100% right, safer than candling and what can you do if they are not fertile at that stage anyway ??? about the same as when you candle....jack s**t.
by the way my success rate doubled with goshawks when i stop candling the eggs and left them too it.

regards

lee featherstone

Yes that is good if you want to leave any dead eggs in the machine to contaminate the rest.

I candle every three days from day 8 onwards and anything that looks even the slightest bit doggey is removed to a seperate incubator.

The buddy is very good at telling you that egg is alive, it is NOT very good at telling you that it is not. There is no way I'd remove an egg based on the buddy not picking up a heart beat at 16 days

[AvianManagement]

Brinsea do three types of candlers 1) Standard Lume for Poultry 2) High Intensity for Game 3) High Intensity Cool Lume for Raptors. I use No3 and can highly recommend it. One point of note with candling is good hygiene lots of eggs are contaminated by the transferring of bacteria using this method.
Ant.

Good hygiene is important in all aspects of incubation.

The F10 alcohol gel is good for use on your hands between machines.

I wipe down ALL equipment and surfaces in my incubation room each day with F10.

One point a lot of people miss is to have a separate pen for notes in the incubation room and leave it there. The number of times I've seen people wash their hands well and go into the incubation room and then pick up a pen from their pocket or a mobile phone.

For computer keyboards you can get a membrane overlay, or better still use a virtual laser keyboard so you have nothing but the table top to touch, which can be wiped down easily.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/keyboards-mice/8193/

[LeesHawks]

Yes that is good if you want to leave any dead eggs in the machine to contaminate the rest.

I candle every three days from day 8 onwards and anything that looks even the slightest bit doggey is removed to a seperate incubator.

The buddy is very good at telling you that egg is alive, it is NOT very good at telling you that it is not. There is no way I'd remove an egg based on the buddy not picking up a heart beat at 16 days

mine are not in incubators they are under the birds take the buddy in anduse it whether 10, 16 26, 30 days doesnt matter, they are in the nest, with nothing registering on the egg buddy after 24 days i will take to a incubator and keep running it, but every one that the buddy has said is dead was 100% correct, just my way and experience, i,m talking gosses eggs not falcons and each to there own

regards

lee

[AvianManagement]

mine are not in incubators they are under the birds take the buddy in anduse it whether 10, 16 26, 30 days doesnt matter, they are in the nest, with nothing registering on the egg buddy after 24 days i will take to a incubator and keep running it, but every one that the buddy has said is dead was 100% correct, just my way and experience, i,m talking gosses eggs not falcons and each to there own

regards

lee

I've tried a lot of eggs on the buddy and have had quite a lot that it did not pick up as alive, but candling did. These were all falcon eggs.

Do you put the egg side onto the sendot or aircell pointing towards the sensor?

[LeesHawks]

I've tried a lot of eggs on the buddy and have had quite a lot that it did not pick up as alive, but candling did. These were all falcon eggs.

Do you put the egg side onto the sendot or aircell pointing towards the sensor?

side on and never the airsack, turn and watch the screen if you dont pick up a heart beat, make sure your on a solid surface and leave the egg in with the lid down, as it cools the chick will move inside the egg causing the wings on the symbol to move this shows that something is alive inside the egg, this is normally early on when picking up a heart beat is very hard with gos eggs, but asfter 20 days then it is easier with them, dont know about falcons never wanted to do them as i like my hearing as it is perfect!!

regards

lee

[Pirate Of Penzance]

i have two barbary eggs from two different falcons set same time both are fertile, and same stage if i used only the buddy i would be throwing out a perfect egg as the one that will not show on the buddy is nearly throwing it self out of the incubator not totally convinced with the buddy it has its place but will not surparse candling done well, and is exposing your chick to infra red any more dangerous than light :)

[Dean]

i shall tell you all, leave them alone, throw your candeler away, bin it you cause more damage candling eggs than you realise, i havent candled for 4 /5 years, i use a egg buddy at 16 days and that has been 100% right, safer than candling and what can you do if they are not fertile at that stage anyway ??? about the same as when you candle....jack s**t.
by the way my success rate doubled with goshawks when i stop candling the eggs and left them too it.

regards

lee featherstoneBrilliant!

[LeesHawks]

i have two barbary eggs from two different falcons set same time both are fertile, and same stage if i used only the buddy i would be throwing out a perfect egg as the one that will not show on the buddy is nearly throwing it self out of the incubator not totally convinced with the buddy it has its place but will not surparse candling done well, and is exposing your chick to infra red any more dangerous than light :)

maybe it is a case of 1 egg shell is thicker than the other or maybe your doing it wrong with the buddy, i dont know and are not saying that you are stupid!!, but if i had the buddy and your eggs i would be able to tell you wether or not they are fertile or dead, the technology is only what has been used on humans and it asnt done us any harm has it!! well some look like they have 2 heads but...

regards

lee

[Pirate Of Penzance]

you are right i am perhaps stupid, i will mesure the shell when they hatch prob porosity of the calsite , i am just saying when the budy came out myself and freinds tested it for jim who makes it,for me it full fill some of the criteria only, i would not tell anybody to trust it a hundred percent or i would have thrown dozens of eggs as falcon griff said a day or two ago.a breeder requires alot more to chuck an egg just my opinion:)

[Hawkmaster]

Gosh, I keep them for years just in case they hatch:twisted:

[LeesHawks]

you are right i am perhaps stupid, i will mesure the shell when they hatch prob porosity of the calsite , i am just saying when the budy came out myself and freinds tested it for jim who makes it,for me it full fill some of the criteria only, i would not tell anybody to trust it a hundred percent or i would have thrown dozens of eggs as falcon griff said a day or two ago.a breeder requires alot more to chuck an egg just my opinion:)

quite right too, i wouldnt chuck them just in case but all i can go on is what it has proved to me and a couple of other gos lads, is it the mark 2 ?? your using as i know the mark 1 wasnt as good especially for gos eggs

regards

lee

[LeesHawks]

Gosh, I keep them for years just in case they hatch:twisted:

paul
if one of them hatches after 2 years mate i will give you 10 grand for it ok mate deal done!!

lee

[Hawkmaster]

Unfortunately I break them open to see the mechanics inside does that still count:twisted:

[LeesHawks]

Unfortunately I break them open to see the mechanics inside does that still count:twisted:

20 k if you get one of them hatch in 2 years time

lee

[Hawkmaster]

So what is the soonest anyone candles Gos or falcon eggs?