[rosie14]

Hi, yet another queery lol! When to candle, if I should candle! Simple! 

[ANHBUC]

Leave to nature unless you have reason to believe the eggs are not fertile.  I believe the first 7 days are crucial and you may not be able to tell if they are viable unless experienced in doing so.   

[rosie14]

ah ha there's my answer thanks for your reply

[joyfull]

i never candle either - the broody will often kick out an egg that is no good 

[JaK]

I candled ours at day 10 and got rid of the egg that wasn't viable. After that I left it up to the broody to do the rest.

[rocker]

When I went to collect eggs one morning., I found my bantam hen sitting on two eggs, a little later she came out to feed , then returned to the coop, to sit on her eggs, at this point . I thought she might be staring to produce chicks, so after two days or so, I candled them, I found them viable, she managed to produce more eggs I think seven in total, I also placed three other eggs under her from another hen, so in total she was sitting on ten eggs. the final result was six chicks,, and if the others had not got chilled they would have survived.
I am very pleased with the results.