Candling - Day 7 - Pt. 1

Today makes 7 days since I put 28 eggs in the incubator for my first ever try at incubation. On day 5, I attempted to candle with a heavy duty flashlight, but it was nowhere near bright enough. Due to that variable, I couldn't see much of anything. Of course I've been a nervous wreck, considering that 18 of the eggs plus shipping were around $40! The other 10, like I mentioned in the first post, came from our own hens and rooster. I'm only a 1/3rd of the way through, but a few minutes ago I discovered that I actually must be doing a decent job!

This morning, the bulb in the flash light was replaced, which had it working blindingly. I've been trying to be patient until this evening, but of course curiosity got the best of me. I grabbed one of the eggs (of our own) and took it into the dark bathroom to candle. At first I thought I saw some veins, but it was nowhere near as clear as I have seen in pictures online. I was thinking to myself that maybe this was a mistake, and the eggs really weren't being incubated correctly.... until the tiny eye of an embryo rubbed against the side of the shell! I'm pretty sure my mouth fell open in awe. As I watched, it wriggled and danced back and forth in the glow of the light. Remembering that it didn't need to cool down long, I returned it to the incubator and grabbed one more from our hens' batch. Same thing!

I feel so relieved, and I plan to check the rest later this evening so I can stay by the incubator while I candle. If I can pick it up, I will snap some photos or video and post them. It's like watching a tiny ultrasound!