Air sacs on pointy side

[karint]

Just peaked at a few of my shipped bantam Cochin eggs and the ones I checked the air sacs are all on the pointy side. They are currently on day five in a hova bator incubator in an upright turner. Do I just leave them and pray for the best or is there anything I can do like switch incubators and hand turn? Feeling so sad eventhough I knew i was taking a chance.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Do the air cells move all around the egg when you flip them?
It is an odd situation for all being at the wrong end. That is likely the case and they were quite shaken in transit, enough to rupture the inner membrane. No action I'm aware of can put the genie back in the bottle.
I'm assuming you have them in the turner with the fat end up?
For the time being, let things progress. Since you can't fix it, do everything else as best you can. Other than frequent turning and insuring the temp stays at 99.5, I could recommend weighing the eggs to track weight loss. Candling will be less reliable to check the size of the air cell. Which makes weighing more important to insure the proper amount of moisture loss. A small pocket gram scale will do the trick.
Do you see development in them?

 

[karint]

Do the air cells move all around the egg when you flip them?
It is an odd situation for all being at the wrong end. That is likely the case and they were quite shaken in transit, enough to rupture the inner membrane. No action I'm aware of can put the genie back in the bottle.
I'm assuming you have them in the turner with the fat end up?
For the time being, let things progress. Since you can't fix it, do everything else as best you can. Other than frequent turning and insuring the temp stays at 99.5, I could recommend weighing the eggs to track weight loss. Candling will be less reliable to check the size of the air cell. Which makes weighing more important to insure the proper amount of moisture loss. A small pocket gram scale will do the trick.
Do you see development in them?

I only checked 5 of the 16 eggs because it’s only day 5 and I couldn’t wait till day 7. Out of the 5 2 showed nothing but it is early and three I could see veins starting and those three had air sacs on the pointy side.

The pointy side is facing down in my incubator and I know this is a trusted breeder so it would all have to do with the shipping.

I didn’t weigh them before I put them in so it might be hard to track. If I weigh them on day 7 would I be able to go off that?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Assuming proper weight loss so far, weighing can still tell you a lot for the next two weeks. 3 showing veining is a good sign.
Weight loss during the first 18 days of aa 21 day incubation should be 11-13%. You can extrapolate for the time remaining.
Since you only have 2 weeks left, weigh now and again after 5 days. If the percentage lost per day is on point, you know your humidity is correct over that time and likely no other humidity concerns except for raising it before pipping commences. If weight loss is too high, increase humidity. If too low, let humidity drop or let it dry out completely for a few days.

 

[karint]

Assuming proper weight loss so far, weighing can still tell you a lot for the next two weeks. 3 showing veining is a good sign.
Weight loss during the first 18 days of aa 21 day incubation should be 11-13%. You can extrapolate for the time remaining.

Perfect I can do that. I’m curious does that mean the chicks will develope what we would think is upside down based on the air sac being on the pointy side? If so how do I lockdown? I’ve always locked down in egg cartoons so upright with pointy side down.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

No. For the time being the embryos will move and rotate all around the egg and don't move into hatching position till about day 11 or so. The head should move into the fat end.
From time to time a chick will hatch from the small end for various reasons. With a ruptured membrane, the idea is to put the air pocket at the top. The egg carton should work.

 

[karint]

No. For the time being the embryos will move and rotate all around the egg and don't move into hatching position till about day 11 or so. The head should move into the fat end.
From time to time a chick will hatch from the small end for various reasons. With a ruptured membrane, the idea is to put the air pocket at the top. The egg carton should work.

Sounds good. Hopefully they just all move to the fat side of the egg somehow. Thanks for all your help

 

[Susan Skylark]

Wonky air sac eggs (mobile, saddled etc) can still hatch, but the shipping trauma also damages the natal embryos, be prepared for significant early and late embryonic death, dead in shell, weak and deformed chicks, even in eggs with normal air cells. Not trying to be a downer here, just want you prepared for a disappointing hatch, you’ll likely get chicks but success may be significantly south of 50%. Just hatched a batch of shipped quail with saddled air cells, 10 eggs didn’t develop, 9 were early embryonic death, 10 died in shell, 11 hatched but 1 was mutant, ugh! Strangely half the eggs that hatched had abnormal air cells and half those dead in shell were normal air cells. The damage to the undeveloped embryos is probably worse than air cell trauma, which is more a symptom of rough shipping than the primary cause of embryonic death (doesn’t cause deformed chicks or early embryonic death, but can certainly cause hatching issues). So sorry but where there is life there is hope!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

All good and significant observations @Susan Skylark .

 

[karint]

Wonky air sac eggs (mobile, saddled etc) can still hatch, but the shipping trauma also damages the natal embryos, be prepared for significant early and late embryonic death, dead in shell, weak and deformed chicks, even in eggs with normal air cells. Not trying to be a downer here, just want you prepared for a disappointing hatch, you’ll likely get chicks but success may be significantly south of 50%. Just hatched a batch of shipped quail with saddled air cells, 10 eggs didn’t develop, 9 were early embryonic death, 10 died in shell, 11 hatched but 1 was mutant, ugh! Strangely half the eggs that hatched had abnormal air cells and half those dead in shell were normal air cells. The damage to the undeveloped embryos is probably worse than air cell trauma, which is more a symptom of rough shipping than the primary cause of embryonic death (doesn’t cause deformed chicks or early embryonic death, but can certainly cause hatching issues). So sorry but where there is life there is hope!

This is only my second time hatching shipped eggs so I’m new to the shipping part. First time 2 were crushed of the 16 but 8 did make lockdown. Only 6 tried to hatch though. The last one I tried to help and save but in the end out it down cause it was suffering but did get 6 healthy chicks. Shipped eggs are hard on the heart.