To candling peacock egg is to use a light source to look into the shell of the peacock egg to determine if the egg is fertile or infertile. Candling of the eggs are important to note which eggs is developing embryos and which are not. Furthermore, if the eggs can be identified as being infertile prior to candling, those eggs can be removed from the incubator altogether to prevent any potential spoiling of the eggs and the resultant problems for the other eggs in the incubator.
The first time that the eggs should be candled is on day seven of incubation. To candy the eggs, the incubator should be darkened and an LED candler with bright lights should be used; the thick shell of the eggs require a bright light to allow the light to pass through the shell. Additionally, the eggs should be held in the hand and the blunt end of the egg should be placed towards the light.
How to Candle, Store, and Hatch Peacock Eggs
If the egg is fertile, you can see a dark spot in the center of the egg with veins radiating out from the spot in the center. However, if the egg is infertile, it will appear clear and yellow with no spots or vein within the shell. The infertile eggs should be marked to identify them and can be double check later; if the infertile eggs are rushed to remove from incubation, there is the potential to remove too many fertile egg from the incubator.
On day fourteen of incubation, the embryo is larger. At this point, the embryo should fill approximately half of the shell of the egg and a dark spot in the center of the embryo may be seen that represents the eye of the soon to be chick. Additionally, movement within the egg may be seen if the embryo is alive; if a red blood ring is seen within the egg, the embryo is dead.
You should remove the egg from the incubator should a red blood ring become visible within the incubating egg; the dead embryo may contain bacteria that can infect the other eggs being incubated. Additionally, the air cell within the egg should be observed on this day when candling the eggs. The air cell should grow steady within the egg as water from the egg evaporates.
However, if the air cell within the egg is too small, the humidity levels within the egg are too high. Conversely, if the air cell within the egg is too large, the humidity within the egg is more low. Peacock eggs is slightly different than chicken eggs.
Peacock eggs are larger and have dense shells. Furthermore, peacock eggs weigh between seventy and one hundred thirty gram. Because the shells of peacock eggs are so dense, a very bright light is required to see through the shell of the egg.
Place the peacock eggs to incubate at ninety-nine point five degrees Fahrenheit. Turn the eggs steadily until day twenty-five. On day twenty-one, the eggs should appear nearly black in appearance due to the development of the embryo within the egg.
At this stage, the air cell should take up around one-third of the length of the egg. On day twenty-five, stop turning the eggs. Increase the humidity within the eggs so that the newly hatched peacock chicks can properly position themselves to hatch from the eggs.
Storing the eggs is a critical step prior to incubation. Store the eggs in a cool location between fifty-five and sixty-five degrees Fahrenheit with seventy-five percent humidity. Store the eggs with the blunt end of the egg facing up.
Tilt the eggs daily. Do not wash the eggs as there natural coating will protect the eggs from bacteria. Warm the eggs slowly for eight to twelve hours prior to placing them in the incubator.
Rapid warming of the eggs can lead to condensation within the eggs, which may clog the pores in the shells of the eggs. Recording data regarding the incubation of the eggs is critical to determine the success of the incubation process. The weight of the eggs can be logged when they are first obtained from the hen.
Additionally, as the eggs are candled, notes can be logged regarding the development of the embryos within the eggs. Finally, the final hatch of the eggs can be logged. By logging these data points, it may be possible to determine that certain hens lay the best eggs for incubation.
Additionally, keeping such records will allow the owners to gain an understanding of the development of the eggs, as well as to improve the number of eggs that hatch as time passes by fine tuning the incubation process.