Candling a bantam egg is the process of looking through a bantam eggshell to examine the development of the embryo inside teh bantam egg. The bantam eggshell is thinner than a standard eggshell, which allow for the light to pass through the bantam eggshell more easy. Because the light passes through the bantam eggshell so easily, an individual can look through the bantam eggshell to examine its interior.
Many individuals that raise bantams may not be knowledgeable of the signs of normal development within the eggs, so those individuals must learn of the stages of development of a normal bantam egg. Bantams can have eggs of a variety of colors. For example, some bantam eggs has white shells, others have speckled shells, and others have blue-green tinted shells.
How to Candle Bantam Eggs
The color of the bantam eggshell does not play a role in the method of candling, but it can play a role in the amount of light that pass through the shell. For example, if an individual is using a standard flashlight to candle a bantam egg whose shell is dark, the individual might have to utilize a more stronger light source to examine the interior of that bantam egg. In contrast, if the bantam egg has a pale shell, it is more likely that the individual can see the interior of the bantam egg with ease.
Early candling of the bantam egg can be used to confirm that the embryo is growing within the egg. At the beginning of the incubation period, the yolk within the bantam egg will appear as a dark mass within the bantam egg, but within one side of that yolk will be a pale spot. By the third and fourth day of incubation, that pale spot will develop into a ring of blood vessels within the bantam egg.
These blood vessels can be compared to a reference chart that indicates what the blood vessels should appear within the bantam egg at these various time periods. If no blood ring is visible within the bantam egg at this time, then it is likely that the embryo within the bantam egg is not viable. It is recommended that the bantam egg is not candled each day, as the act of candling can introduce cooling to the bantam egg, which can lead to the development of problems with the membrane that surrounds the embryo within the bantam egg.
Instead, it is recommended to candler the bantam egg on day four, then again on day seven or day eight. By day five of incubation, one can see the development of the embryo within the bantam egg more distinctly. The blood vessels that developed in the bantam egg can be seen to have spread throughout the bantam eggshell, and the appearance of a dark spot within the bantam egg that corresponds to the developing embryo.
Additionally, if the bantam egg is relatively stable, it may be possible to observe any movement of the embryo within the bantam egg. It is possible for the embryo to develop slow within the bantam egg due to the temperature of the surrounding area in which the bantam egg is incubated. Thus, if the development within the bantam egg appears slow, it is suggested to wait two days before candling the bantam egg again to determine if the embryo is still developing normal.
By day fourteen, the bantam egg may appear darker due to the fact that the embryo has developed to where it occupies the majority of the space within the bantam eggshell. Additionally, the air cell within the bantam egg may have become larger through the incubation process that has occurred. During this stage of incubation, it is possible to identify any potential problems with the bantam egg.
For instance, if the embryo has passed through the blood ring stage, it is likely that the embryo has died. Additionally, if the mass within the bantam egg appears dark and does not contain any blood vessels, it is likely that the bantam egg is not developing. Any bantam egg that is determined to not be developing should be removed from the incubation process to prevent the potential for any detrimental effects that the bantam egg may have upon the other bantam eggs within the incubator.
During the final stages of incubation, the method of candling of the bantam egg changes. Around day seventeen, the air cell within the bantam egg may appear irregular due to the fact that the embryo is moving within the bantam egg. Additionally, most incubation processes will stop turning the bantam egg around day eighteen, and the humidity surrounding the bantam egg is increased around this time.
During these last few days of incubation, it is not recommended to candlor the bantam egg too often. Eventually, the embryo will perform pipping; the process in which the bantam chick begins to break the shell of the bantam egg. This process of pipping should not be assisted; too much assistance at this time can lead to the death of the bantam chick.
The purpose of candling bantam eggs is to observe the stages of development of the embryos, and to remove any bantam eggs that appear to be not developing those embryos. It is important for an individual to be able to recognize any stage of development, and to recognize when the embryo within the bantam egg has stopped developing. If the development of the embryo within the bantam egg appears to match the stages within the chart, then it is likely that the bantam egg will hatch and the chick will emerge.
If the development within the bantam egg appears to not match the stages charted for those times, then you should remove that bantam egg to ensure that it does not create any problems for the other bantam eggs within the incubation process.