An obnoxious smell coming from the incubator on hatch day

[kmonroe95]

I had a teacher that I work with tell me that there is a seriously foul smell coming from her incubator, but chicks are supposed to hatch today. She looked it up and it said that maybe one of the eggs had a bacterial problem, but is there any way to tell which egg it might be?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

but is there any way to tell which egg it might be?

yep, sniff them individually.

 

[kmonroe95]

yep, sniff them individually.

That was my thought as well. Just wanted to make sure that was it!

 

[oregonkat]

Be extremely careful when picking the eggs up to smell them, if you have a rotter in there, and it seems highly likely, the bacterial growth inside the egg will be putting pressure on the shell. This is why they explode!! You DO NOT want this to break open any where near you or especially near the other eggs in the bator. Have a ziploc bag ready when you are smelling the eggs and place the guilty one in the bag very carefully, seal it, and throw it away. Good luck.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I'm not 100% sure I would open my bator on hatch day though. Depends on what's up with hatching.

I haven't had an egg actually explode yet. Maybe just a little ooze.

 

[oregonkat]

I'm not 100% sure I would open my bator on hatch day though. Depends on what's up with hatching.

I agree except that if that thing goes off, and if it is smelling strongly now it could go any time, it could expose those new chicks to possible bacterial misery. If none have pipped, I would risk opening the bator and then making sure the humidity is back on track ASAP. I think I would risk it even if there was an external pip because the emerging chick would play havoc with that rotting egg. I have not had to deal with this situation myself, thank goodness but I think I would take the risk and get the offending egg out.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I think I would risk it even if there was an external pip because the emerging chick would play havoc with that rotting egg.

I agree. Lots of tough decisions, we do our best. But a bumped, even just oozing egg could let the chicks trample through and spread all over. So that is probably still the best choice. Figured I would put it out there for discussion since shrink wrapping is one concern.

Happy hatching, BTW!!