What do rotten eggs look like when you candle them? Like this?

[DeckDuck]

My little bantam hen has been trying to hatch some eggs. Unfortunately for her it seems that my old rooster isn't doing his job right now because all of our eggs have been infertile. She's tried several batches and they've all candled at seven days to be empty, so today I was going to take her off of the nest. I candled the last batch, and lo! one was not empty. I think it's probably rotten though

It's just too unlikely to have been successful, because in addition to everything else this particular egg was very old when I set it. I think it might smell faintly bad; but when I go near that cage all I smell is the perfume of broody poop!

Does anyone know what a rotten egg looks like when it's candled? This egg would be perhaps 2 1/2 weeks along, though I don't know for sure because the hen rubbed off the setting date I had written on there. It's pretty dark inside but I can see the air cell clearly. I'm not holding out any hope, but I couldn't bring myself to take it away from the hen before consulting the forum.

What do you think? When I candled it a week ago it was not dark but there was a slight shadow in there.

 

[enola]

I would say there is a chick in that egg. Do you know the hatch date?

 

[DeckDuck]

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I know that I wrote the date in pencil on this egg when I set it, but the hen seems to have rubbed it off. I think it would be due anywhere between now and a week from now.

 

[koris]

Can you see any veins in the egg? If there is veins, there is a baby.... no veins, no baby. When I first candled eggs I had no idea what I was looking for, and then all of a sudden, there it was, veins at 7 days. I could also see it moving in the egg. If you are that far along and if there is a baby in there you should be able to see movement and veins!

GOOD LUCK!

 

[DeckDuck]

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This could be because my flash light isn't very bright, but I don't see any veins or movement.

I guess I should continue to assume that it's not viable in that case. That's very helpful, thanks!

Because I can't see it very well I think I'll leave it under the hen for now. I hope I don't end up cleaning an exploded egg off of an angry broody in a few days.

 

[koris]

This could be because my flash light isn't very bright, but I don't see any veins or movement.

I guess I should continue to assume that it's not viable in that case. That's very helpful, thanks!

Because I can't see it very well I think I'll leave it under the hen for now. I hope I don't end up cleaning an exploded egg off of an angry broody in a few days.

Having a light that you can properly see into the egg makes a difference. I use a big flash light and wrap my hands around the light to create a seal. I candled mine yesterday to 18 days and they were hard to see into but I could still see veins at the top by the air bubble!

Last year when my hen went broody I candled an egg to see if it was viable and had NO idea what I was looking for. I was guessing it was bad too, but chose to put the egg back under her, and a few days later the chick hatched! Good luck, maybe you will check in a day or two and there will be a lil chick!

 

[enola]

What is your egg doing today?

 

[LTygress]

I'll go ahead and tell you... that egg is dead.

I saw this thread yesterday while browsing on my phone and could see the edges, and thought it might be. But now I'm on my computer with a 24" monitor, and I can see the pic very clearly. It's dead. There is no sign of blood vessels at all. Rotten eggs WILL often get that opaque look to them, from all of the bacteria growing inside. But the edges should still show blood vessels. You will see blood vessels from some angles, all the way up until the day the chick hatches. And usually to see it, you'll want to shine the light right in the tip of the large end, and look down the sides of the shell. With white eggs, it is VERY easy to see. There's no way you can miss them. Sometimes I have problems on my green and brown eggs, but never the white ones.

And I can see far enough down along the shell in the photo to know that you have no blood vessel growth, so it's definitely dead.

 

[DeckDuck]

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LTygress, thank you very much for confirming that for me. I got new batteries for my flashlight and checked the egg more thoroughly this morning. There's definitely no blood vessels at all. It probably wasn't ever alive to begin with.

I'm new to candling so this has been a very educational experience for me. I'm glad to hear that if there ever are any blood vessels in there I'll be able to see them. At least the chickens managed to produce some manner of life, even if it was just bacteria!

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Thanks for checking

 

[DeckDuck]

Oho yea, boy was it!