Egg with a crack in it, please help quickly!!!

15shenyl

Chirping
7 Years
Jul 14, 2012
396
11
91
Yakima Washington
There is a crack in the egg my hen is sitting on. What should I do? I don't know how long it has been like this, a day I think. It looks good inside. Please be specific on your answer. I have seen solutions but it's not specific on what exactly to do. Like what type of wax or glue to cover the crack. I used a glue stick and covered the crack very slightly but is wax the better option, if so what type of wax, candle wax or a special wax? Please respond as soon as you have an answer!!
 
We had a couple of eggs which cracked, and we used wax to seal them again. We used ordinary white paraffin candles and dripped the wax only over the cracks, trying to make sure the wax wasn't too hot hitting the shell. Then we put the eggs in an incubator as we were worried that the hen would damage them further.

The cracks developed quite late in the process though: perhaps seven - ten days before hatching? I think if they had happened earlier the chances for infection would have been greater.

Both eggs got to the peeping stage and then we had to go out of town for an indefinite time period (death in the family). As we didn't know how long we would be away, we put the peeping eggs under the hen. When we returned, one had hatched normally but the other was dead: it looked as though the shell had fallen off the egg but the chick was still trapped in the membrane. Maybe the hen stepped on the egg and because the shell was weak from the cracks it damaged the developing chick too badly to survive. I guess we will never know.

I think the most important thing is to put up a barrier for protection against infection and prevent the egg from being damaged further. Not sure what kind of glue you used (never heard of using glue!) but I would be worried about toxicity and air getting through the shell*.

Good luck. Please keep us posted!

* To clarify: as vehve pointed out it's important to ensure that air can get through the shell so don't cover the whole surface. I worded this a bit awkwardly.
 
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We used nail polish on one egg with a crack, but I can't remember anymore if that one made it through to the end. The wax probably would have less risks, but it's more difficult to apply. The most important thing is that you don't cover the whole surface, you need to let the egg breathe.
 
I went out about 30 minutes ago and did use wax, I got to worried. We don't need any more chickens but I didn't relise she had an egg when she went broody, she's been on it for two weeks now, I left it because I thought I would just see what would happen. I told myself I wouldn't care if it didn't make it, but now sence I saw it growing today, I feel so bad and I want to try and help it. The glue was non toxic white Elmer's glue, I didn't know what type of wax to use at the time and saw a post somewhere to use it, so I put a little on just until I could figure a better solution. I also wish I could use my bater, but it's an old one used in schools that I got for free. It works but the heating system I can't figure out.
 
Sounds like you've done the best you can do and now it's in the hands of fate. The only other thing I might suggest is to ensure that the hen isn't getting stressed or harassed in the nest so there is less likelihood of her damaging the egg further. But no doubt you already considered that.
 
So I go out today to check on her and gather eggs. I see that's she's in a different box and no egg in the box she was in. I pick her up and dirt came out from her wings, she just went out and took a dirt bath. I see there's no egg! I check under her wings, I look in all the boxes , it's not there. The straw is not wet in any of the boxes and her chest isn't yellow so I don't think she broke it. I don't know what happened to her egg?
 
So I go out today to check on her and gather eggs. I see that's she's in a different box and no egg in the box she was in. I pick her up and dirt came out from her wings, she just went out and took a dirt bath. I see there's no egg! I check under her wings, I look in all the boxes , it's not there. The straw is not wet in any of the boxes and her chest isn't yellow so I don't think she broke it. I don't know what happened to her egg?


She likely ate it. I had eggs disappear under a broody. There was nowhere for her to go or the eggs to go. She was in a small enclosed box about five feet off the ground so nothing could have got to her eggs. So the only explanation was she ate it. It likely wasn't developing.
 
That's what I was thinking. But when I looked her over more closely, she has feathers missing on her stomic and a few of her toenails were missing and she was bleeding from them. I was thinking something startled her and she left. I don't know, the whole thing was up in air anyways so what ever happened it doesnt matter.
 

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