Although some people like to candle eggs early in the incubation process, I prefer to wait until day 14 of the incubation cycle.  We candle all peafowl eggs both naturally incubated by the peahens or artificially incubated within an incubator.

When we candle eggs it will tell us if an egg is fertile and going to develop into a peachick. When we candle an egg this also tells us if an egg has stopped developing later in the cycle.

Step by Step how to candle eggs

You need to be quick to ensure that the eggs stay warm during the candling process. It is easy to make your own low cost candler.

Get a torch with a flat end so it can shine with the light shining up vertically.

Find a hard piece of card about 6 inches or 15 centimetres long by 6 inches or 15 cms square. You can use a cereal box or other grocery box. Cut a hole cut in the centre about one inch or two centimetres in diameter.

Alternatively you can use a purpose made candler!

Turn on the torch and stand on its end with the light shining upwards.

Put the piece of card on top of the torch resulting in the light shining through the hole in the centre of the card.

Hold the egg up to the torch on top of the card with the wider end at the bottom touching the card.

You will need to be in a darkened room.

If the egg is fertile you should see veins or a darker spot within the egg.  Consequently any peafowl eggs that glow translucent are unfertilised.

Finally discard any unfertilised peafowl eggs. This gives the fertilised eggs a better chance of hatching and less chance of an unfertilised egg contaminating the other eggs within the incubator.

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