# EGG YOLK



## Carol S (May 18, 2015)

I have several Russian eggs which when candled only show a clear liquid. I figured they were not fertile as they did not chalk and they have been in the incubator for a month. Do eggs that are not fertile still have a yolk sac when layed and would the yolk sac show when candled or is it normal for the egg to just show a clear liquid? 

Thanks in advance for any information.


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## Yvonne G (May 18, 2015)

A non-fertile egg is just like one of those chicken eggs that you crack open for breakfast. The yolk is what an embryo would feed on as it grows. What you're looking for in the candling process is blood vessels.


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## Carol S (May 18, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> A non-fertile egg is just like one of those chicken eggs that you crack open for breakfast. The yolk is what an embryo would feed on as it grows. What you're looking for in the candling process is blood vessels.


.


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## Carol S (May 18, 2015)

Yes, I understand that, but if the egg is not fertile does the yolk disolve or just not show when candled, as the sustance inside the egg looks clear?


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## Yvonne G (May 18, 2015)

It looks just like an egg that you crack open to eat. As time goes on and the egg dries out one of two thing might happen - it dries up and the yolk and albumin turn to hard, shrunken samples of their former selves, or it starts to rot, builds up gasses and explodes.


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## shellfreak (May 18, 2015)

The yellow yolk will subside to the bottom of the egg. So it will seem like the liquid is clear inside. Eventually the white portion of the egg dries up and the yellow portion gets hard. As gases increase inside the egg, the egg will literally explode. This has happened to me recently, picture attached. The top of the egg landed in the adjacent container. I hardly ever take an egg out of the incubator unless it turn black, smells like a rotten egg, or explodes. Nature does crazy things, you never know how long it could take the little guy inside to start growing. In my short experience in incubating eggs, if I don't see blood vessels in the first month, I assume it's a dud. Though I still keep them in the incubator. I'm a believer...


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## Tidgy's Dad (Jun 6, 2015)

shellfreak said:


> The yellow yolk will subside to the bottom of the egg. So it will seem like the liquid is clear inside. Eventually the white portion of the egg dries up and the yellow portion gets hard. As gases increase inside the egg, the egg will literally explode. This has happened to me recently, picture attached. The top of the egg landed in the adjacent container. I hardly ever take an egg out of the incubator unless it turn black, smells like a rotten egg, or explodes. Nature does crazy things, you never know how long it could take the little guy inside to start growing. In my short experience in incubating eggs, if I don't see blood vessels in the first month, I assume it's a dud. Though I still keep them in the incubator. I'm a believer...
> View attachment 130559


Very interesting.


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## Carol S (Jun 6, 2015)

Thanks for the information.


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## biochemnerd808 (Jun 8, 2015)

Carol, I have had 2 eggs that never chalked, and that looked clear inside upon candling. Neither exploded, even though I left them in the incubator for 80 days. I opened them, and one had no yolk, not even dried up. The other had yolk at the bottom, as shellfreak described.
Very young chickens sometimes lay eggs with no yolk in them, so my guess is that the same can happen in tortoises. Kind of like priming the pump, I guess...



Carol S said:


> I have several Russian eggs which when candled only show a clear liquid. I figured they were not fertile as they did not chalk and they have been in the incubator for a month. Do eggs that are not fertile still have a yolk sac when layed and would the yolk sac show when candled or is it normal for the egg to just show a clear liquid?
> 
> Thanks in advance for any information.


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