Advice on incubated egg - is it viable?

[VlkStinu]

Hi everyone!

I decided to try and incubate two chicken eggs (in addition to adopting chickens from an industrial poultry house) - it's my first time and as I have no experience in candling eggs, I was wondering if I could ask you for an advice on whether this egg - Welsumer breed - is viable. The other egg I have is of Ayam cemani and as the eggshell is white, it's much easier to read. And it's clearly doing well. But with the Welsumer egg, which is spotted and brown, I just can't decide whether everything is going well or not. It's a 7th day of the incubation. My guess is that something is rather off. I don't see any veins or anything in particular and the Ayam cemani egg in comparison is clearly way more developed (there is a large dark red area and smaller light area). But maybe it's just the color of the eggshell, that masks it off? What do you think? The third picture is the egg of Ayam cemani just for comparison.

 

[MGG]

What happens by day 14?
I tried the water candling technique on the egg and I've seen no movement whatsoever.

This is the Ayam cemani egg. There is barely anything visible, unlike last time. It was very dark.

I think that one looks dead unfortunately. Do you see any veins/movement?
Float testing is not a good method. It's bad and unreliable. It can actually kill the eggs.

 

[MGG]

Hi everyone!

I decided to try and incubate two chicken eggs (in addition to adopting chickens from an industrial poultry house) - it's my first time and as I have no experience in candling eggs, I was wondering if I could ask you for an advice on whether this egg - Welsumer breed - is viable. The other egg I have is of Ayam cemani and as the eggshell is white, it's much easier to read. And it's clearly doing well. But with the Welsumer egg, which is spotted and brown, I just can't decide whether everything is going well or not. It's a 7th day of the incubation. My guess is that something is rather off. I don't see any veins or anything in particular and the Ayam cemani egg in comparison is clearly way more developed (there is a large dark red area and smaller light area). But maybe it's just the color of the eggshell, that masks it off? What do you think? The third picture is the egg of Ayam cemani just for comparison.

Leave them all in until day 14 no matter what, just to be safe. Also, welcome to BYC! Are all 3 pics the same egg? The last pic looks like it may be viable. Where did you get these eggs?

 

[VlkStinu]

Leave them all in until day 14 no matter what, just to be safe. Also, welcome to BYC! Are all 3 pics the same egg? The last pic looks like it may be viable. Where did you get these eggs?

Thank you! I was just reading several threads on the subject of candling Welsummer eggs and apparently it's really hard to see anything. That made me hopeful! So I will let the egg incubate and I will see if there is any change on day 11-12 when I will be candling again.

The third picture is a different egg - white shelled Ayam cemani, just for comparison. But after reading on the subject, I understand that you can't really compare these two.

They are both from a local seller ( I am from Czech Republic )

 

[MGG]

I know, I should have gone for at least 3 eggs - my mistake. I can leave it for sure, I just don't want it to go bad and explode - I heard that can happen?

I actually checked and there is someone selling chicks not so far away. They are more than a week old though, is that a problem?

What if it would be a rooster? Would it still get picked on, if the rest of the flock would be hens?

It's ok. They almost never explode. It's safe to leave them until at least 14 days. If they are over a week old they won't be suitable. Do they have any younger chicks? Chicks that are a week old will peck it and probably kill it. If it were a cockerel it would integrate eventually and become the flock leader. It's just very stressful on you and the bird to integrate a single chick. They don't have a buddy to sleep with when they're kicked out of the coop, or to hide with when they're chased around, etc. It's very stressful on them, and the stress can actually kill them.

 

[VlkStinu]

Just a thought - how about getting an adult hen and get her to do the rest of the incubation or let her care for the chick just after it hatches? I guess that would be hard to pull off right? I could get an adult hen easily, unlike a few days old chick. There would be just two of them, they could bond and then I would introduce the rest of the adopted chickens.

 

[The Happster]

I'm assuming you don't have a broody hen.
No. That isn't going to work.

She must be broody to accept a chick. They go broody when they feel like it.
Best idea is to search out for some young chicks like MGG suggested.

Hopefully it will all go well and this egg will hatch.

 

[VlkStinu]

I'm assuming you don't have a broody hen.
No. That isn't going to work.

She must be broody to accept a chick. They go broody when they feel like it.
Best idea is to search out for some young chicks like MGG suggested.

Hopefully it will all go well and this egg will hatch.

Thank you! Yeah, I thought that might be difficult. A local supplier sells adult hens that lay eggs, so I was thinking I could slide this one under her and she could finish the incubation, but I am a rookie in all this, so just a rookie idea.

I found some threads where people said they raised a single chick and they integrated well into the flock afterwards, so I assume it really depends on the individual and the flock - so it's not entirely impossible. I have plenty of time as I work home office, so the chick wouldn't be alone, but I understand that by not having a fellow chick to bond with, it will have a harder time to bond with other chickens in the future, that makes absolute sense. Although again, if it would be a rooster, I am sure he would blend in well. But I suppose I won't be able to tell until several weeks of the chick's growth.

So apart from this, the only other option is to get a broiler chick which seems to be really easy to get - there are many ads offering 1-day old chicks. The only downside is that broiler chick will never lay eggs right?

Oh by the way, I cracked the Welsummer egg open this morning and there was just a plain yolk, no development whatsoever.

 

[The Happster]

Completely understandable, but those broody hens are tricky. You'll never get a hen go broody if you want her to. Haha.

Don't get a broiler chick unless you're willing to process it.
I have had one chick a couple of times, both raised by a broody.
They still have integration problems.

 

[VlkStinu]

Completely understandable, but those broody hens are tricky. You'll never get a hen go broody if you want her to. Haha.

Don't get a broiler chick unless you're willing to process it.
I have had one chick a couple of times, both raised by a broody.
They still have integration problems.

I can imagine.

I wouldn't want to process it for sure... So that leaves me out of options really. I've put up two ads on two different websites, so fingers crossed someone will respond. And if not, I will do my best and hope for the best.

Thank you!