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Ann Closson has this to say about candling eggs:
Stillman was a butter and egg wholesale merchant. He invested his earnings wisely in the stock market and became somewhat wealthy. He bought eggs in bulk from area farmers especially when the prices were lowest. He also bought butter from the farmers. The eggs were candled to insure they were NOT fertile. He also sorted them by size for sale to the grocery stores. These eggs were sold to customers for use in everyday cooking and baking. He also sold them to bakeries and restaurants. Stillman kept the cases of eggs and butter in cold storage. Your Dad remembers the eggs and butter being stored in an ice house with ice cut from a lake. Somewhere we have an invoice of his egg and butter business.Ann found the picture below on the website HenCam: A Chicken-Keeping Life
To candle an egg, you shined a bright, focused light through the egg to see if the egg has any faults or cracks and if it's fertile. At first a candle was used to do this. I believe Stillman used an electric light bulb. Any strong, focused beam of light from a flashlight shone through a piece of cardboard with only a small penlight sized hole cut out would work. A non-fertilized egg will have only the center yolk, which will not be fully opaque, but look more like a grey ball, moving around inside. There will be no veins. Best to candle at night with all other lights off. It will be much easier to see small differences.
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| This print appeared in The Lady’s Friend, published in 1865. |
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