Candling eggs is the process of viewing the inner contents of a fertilized egg by placing it in front of a bright light (most people use a flashlight or a specific candling device). The reason its called candling is that they used to use a...candle. Shocker, eh? Candling is used to estimate the age of an egg, as well as whether its been fertilized or if its going to rot. When youre shining the light onto the egg, if you can barely see the yolk, youve got yourself a fresh egg, but if youre seeing the yolk move around the egg freely and clearly, youve probably got an egg thats older.