Advice needed

[mammasue]

I have only one egg left we went on lockdown Saturday morning. Idk if the baby is alive but definitely was on lock down day. We have a last minute trip we may have to take and if we do only be 2 days. If for some reason the baby doesn’t hatch before I leave what should I do? And is there a point I can safely check for life prior to leaving?

 

[nuthatched]

Candle it in a dark room, look for voluntary movement or veins

 

[Ecarroll]

Can you have someone come and check on it? Will you be able to get more chicks if it does hatch? A lone chick is not good for them.

 

[Pigeony]

I have only one egg left we went on lockdown Saturday morning. Idk if the baby is alive but definitely was on lock down day. We have a last minute trip we may have to take and if we do only be 2 days. If for some reason the baby doesn’t hatch before I leave what should I do? And is there a point I can safely check for life prior to leaving?

So you're 5 days into lockdown? At this point you can probably say the egg isn't going to hatch because it's 2 days past due. No external pip or anything? I'd write the egg off at this point as dead, but you could always poke a hole in the air cell and peer in if you want peace of mind.

 

[mammasue]

So you're 5 days into lockdown? At this point you can probably say the egg isn't going to hatch because it's 2 days past due. No external pip or anything? I'd write the egg off at this point as dead, but you could always poke a hole in the air cell and peer in if you want peace of mind.

Today is official hatch day we may be leaving tomorrow so it would be 5-6 days when I get back sorry that wasn’t clear

 

[mammasue]

Can you have someone come and check on it? Will you be able to get more chicks if it does hatch? A lone chick is not good for them.

Imma try to see if my cousin can come check if we leave. I will def be getting another chick to raise with it. Idk why but this is my 2nd round of incubation and last group only one made it out of 12. One started to zip and was doing fine when left for work when got home 5 hours later it got turned wrong in egg I guess suffocated .and this round so I started with 12 eggs got down to 3 and 2 stopped developing. I hatched the eggs and nothing was wrong with the chick I could see. So I’m down to the last one. Note these were all from the same hen and rooster combo.

 

[mammasue]

Candle it in a dark room, look for voluntary movement or veins

When can I candle it without potentially hurting the baby, I have read that once in lockdown you cannot take them out it could hurt them.

 

[Pigeony]

Today is official hatch day we may be leaving tomorrow so it would be 5-6 days when I get back sorry that wasn’t clear

So you don't see any external pip or anything? Can you candle, see if you see any breathing or internal pip?

Here's what I would do if I was in your situation:

I would inspect the egg for a pip spot first.

I would then candle and look for breathing second if I saw no pip.

Then if I saw no breathing or sign of life, I would open a small hole in the air cell that's just large enough to see through.

If you look through the aircell and see white membrane, then look for breathing movement on the membrane.

If you see no breathing, lightly moisten the membrane with a q-tip or similar and see if you see active, red veins.

If you open a hole in the aircell and don't see white membrane when you look inside; the membrane is transparent so you can see the chick, then the chick has died.

 

[Pigeony]

When can I candle it without potentially hurting the baby, I have read that once in lockdown you cannot take them out it could hurt them.

If there is no external pip, taking it out during lockdown is no different than taking it out to candle at any earlier point.

 

[Pigeony]

So you don't see any external pip or anything? Can you candle, see if you see any breathing or internal pip?

Here's what I would do if I was in your situation:

I would inspect the egg for a pip spot first.

I would then candle and look for breathing second if I saw no pip.

Then if I saw no breathing or sign of life, I would open a small hole in the air cell that's just large enough to see through.

If you look through the aircell and see white membrane, then look for breathing movement on the membrane.

If you see no breathing, lightly moisten the membrane with a q-tip or similar and see if you see active, red veins.

If you open a hole in the aircell and don't see white membrane when you look inside; the membrane is transparent so you can see the chick, then the chick has died.

If you see confirmation the chick is alive at any point during this, just put it back in the incubator. If you got all the way to opening the air cell, you can drape a damp (not soaking wet) paper towel partially over the hole, not completely covering, to keep moisture a little higher in the egg.