There are several ways in which you can determine if an egg is embryo. In the absence of a special device - an ovoscope, you can use folk methods of finding out whether an egg is fertilized.
To determine the quality of eggs and find out whether the embryo develops in them, there is an ovoscope device. It is easy to use, and its design is so simple that some craftsmen make analogs of this device with their own hands at home.
How to carry out ovoscopy?
This device has a special hole to which you need to apply eggs. Thus, they are translucent and it becomes clear whether there is an embryo. Before starting the procedure, it is recommended to thoroughly wash your hands or wear thin rubber gloves. It should be noted that a decrease in egg temperature in the early stages of embryo development is fraught with its death. Therefore, the room where the ovoscope is checked must be warm.
The whole procedure should be fast. It is optimal if there will be an assistant who will serve the eggs and lay them, after scanning, into place in an incubator or nest. Checking eggs for the presence of an embryo in them should be carried out no earlier than 5-6 days after the start of incubation. Until that time, it will not give any results.
If the transillumination showed that under the shell there is a clearly distinguishable darkish spot or an area of the yolk with streaks of thin blood vessels, then there is life in the egg. The embryo is especially noticeable if it is located close to the shell. Its insufficient immersion in the yolk suggests that the development of the chicken is poor.
Folk methods of determining the fertilization of eggs
If there is no ovoscope, but there is an old filmstrip projector, you can check with it. To do this, the egg is applied to the hole from which a beam of light is supplied, and it is determined whether there is an embryo in it. A similar, but less comfortable way is to use a bright light bulb (for example, 150 W). To avoid glare, you can do this: roll a sheet of A4 paper into a tube and attach an egg to one side of it, which must be carefully brought closer to the light source.
There is another interesting way to check if fertilization has occurred. You need to bathe the eggs 3-4 days before the end of incubation. Each of them is alternately dipped into a container with a small amount of warm water and the behavior of the liquid is observed. From the egg in which the embryo develops, circles go through the water, reminiscent of those that come from a float when fishing. If fertilization did not occur or the embryo died, the water remains motionless.
