Cracked day 18 egg

[kittydoc]

I accidentally dropped an egg during lockdown last night, only about 4", but cracked the shell. Most of the cracks are over the air cell, and I did not tear the inner membranes (no leakage at all). I melted some food-grade paraffin and used a paintbrush to seal the cracks. I candled it, and the air cell was intact. The sealed area is only maybe 5-8% of the surface area of the shell over the air cell. The rest of the egg was just solid darkness. The chick in that one has always filled more of the space with dark, solid tissue than the rest, but I know it was moving 2 days previously.

Has anyone done this and had success with hatching at egg cracked at this point?

BTW, I went into lockdown a day early because my first hatch decided they were all coming out on Day 19! They had only been in lockdown for 12 hours before all of them hatched. Some of these eggs are also smallish, and I don't think the hens are terribly old, so I wanted to be prepared in case any of them pipped early, like my last batch.

Thanks in advance!

 

[chicmom]

Oh yes, it can still hatch and I personally would just leave it be. I know some might put a bit of candle wax on there to seal it, or even a tiny piece of tape, but you're so close to hatching, and you don't want to open that incubator and decrease that important humidity. The more you monkey with the egg, the more germs could contaminate anyway. So my vote would be to leave it be.

And I'd love to hear if it hatches!

Good luck,
Sharon

 

[16 paws]

Oh yes, it can still hatch and I personally would just leave it be. I know some might put a bit of candle wax on there to seal it, or even a tiny piece of tape, but you're so close to hatching, and you don't want to open that incubator and decrease that important humidity. The more you monkey with the egg, the more germs could contaminate anyway. So my vote would be to leave it be.

And I'd love to hear if it hatches!

Good luck,
Sharon

Me too

 

[chicmom]

Oh for cryin' out loud! LOL I just noticed that you sealed it with wax. I'm sorry! The only thing about wax is that it may sort of hold the egg together, making it more difficult for the chick to hatch...But you never know where they'll pip.....

Wishing your little chick the best,
Sharon

 

[kittydoc]

Hi Sharon,

Thanks for the advise. Actually, when I noticed that chick had started to pip near the waxed area, I picked up the egg and scraped off the heat-softened wax with my thumbnail to make it easier for it to pip. It didn't have a bit of trouble--came out second of the 7 eggs, and zipped in record time. Apparently, I did not injure it, so that was a relief. In the future, though, if I stupidly drop one during lockdown procedures (changing out the turning apparatus for paper towels, etc.), I will just leave it be as long as the membranes are intact. I had not used very much wax anyway and think it would have done fine either way, but I think food-grade paraffin would be a good choice for someone who cracks an egg (without damaging membranes) earlier during incubation. It was easy to paint on thinly with an artist's paintbrush.

All's well that ends well! All 7 eggs hatched. We are very pleased.

Thanks again for your two cents. Much appreciated for future reference. This is the second time I have dropped an egg during incubation. I try to be SOOOOO careful, but I am disabled and take a ton of drugs, so I think sometimes my grip isn't always what I think it is. I dropped one from elbow height to the floor once, and killed a chick that was 2/3 incubated, and felt just sick about it (especially since that turned out to be a zero chick hatch, and I probably killed the only one that might have made it). That whole hatch is why I am sworn off buying hatching eggs through the mail. I'll drive 2-3 hours to pick them up, but no more USPS for me.

Mary

 

[ducksinarow]

I just hatched a duck egg covered in cracks. The mother duck abandoned the eggs about a 1.5 weeks before hatch. I put them in the incubator. There were 5 eggs. One was covered in cracks another had a hole busted in it about the size of a quarter. I boiled an egg shell and super glued it over the hole. All 5 hatched. I had to help super glue baby after it piped because the shell was so hard because of the super glue. The egg with the hairline cracks hatched just fine. Best of luck.