Relaxed Farming - our farm in your classroom

This week we have candled all the eggs in our incubators to check which are fertile are still growing. We have three breeds at the moment: Oxford English Game chickens and more Copper Maran chickens (choices of Arthur, who works on our smallholding) and yet more Bobwhite quail (the latter to ensure we have a good choice from different sources in order to make our own unrelated breeding groups). Candling involves shining a bright light through the egg to see what is happening on the inside: if an egg is fertile this means it has the potential to develop into a chick (and for this to have happened a cockerel must have mated with the hen who is laying the eggs ).
A fertile egg looks exactly like the one in the middle photo: can you see the streaks of red? These are tiny blood vessels and they are growing from a central point in the egg which is the start of the growing chick. The OEG are doing well, 10 out of 12 were fertile and today (day 11) ALL 10 are still growing. The Marans have not done so well with just six fertile from the original 12 (but all still growing). And out of 36 quail eggs, 23 were fertile with 21 are still growing.
By 'still growing' we mean that the chick is still alive inside the egg and continuing to develop. Whilst an egg may be fertile, this does not guarantee it WILL definitely become a chick. Incubation is an uncertain business and at every stage something can go wrong BUT equally at every stage, the hope is you keep all the eggs growing and disease free and end up with strong, healthy bundles of fluff such as this fabulous Copper Maran.