Little Giant Egg Candler

Details

A handheld LED candler that runs on a single AAA battery, included, with a wrist strap so it does not end up dropped into a tray of eggs. It is pocket-sized and cordless, which means you carry it to the incubator rather than carrying eggs across a room to a light. Candling means holding a bright light against the shell so it lights up the inside. From about the first week you can make out veining and a dark spot where the embryo is developing. Eggs that stay clear are infertile or have quit, and getting them out matters, because a dead egg in a warm incubator goes bad and at worst bursts and contaminates a whole tray. Ten minutes with a candler partway through, and again a week later, tells you what your hatch is really going to be. The LED is the reason to pick this over an old bulb candler. LEDs run cool, so you can hold an egg against it long enough to look properly without heating the contents. Work in a dark room, hold the large end of the egg to the light and turn it slowly, then get the eggs back into the incubator before they chill.