Blood circle around embryo?

[K0k0shka]

Sounds good. I'll put a reminder on my calendar to update. I'm really bad at remembering these things.

Me too, but I try. Sometimes months will pass and then I'll go and search for my old threads, and go over them to see if there are any loose ends... Then I post an update, just for future readers. Often I'll look for something on BYC for advice, and find a thread describing the exact issue I'm having, but the OP never came back to update, so I don't know how it got resolved... and no answers... So it's nice to wrap it up at some point, even if it's not right away. Any wrap up is better than no wrap up

 

[ssferret]

I do get disappointed when things aren't updated. It's like a favorite television show that ends it's season on a cliffhanger and never gets renewed. (Yes, that's from personal experience.) Ok. That's a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean. Of course I'm sure I'm guilty of the same thing so I can't say much.

I do like what you said about going back and looking at past messages. Maybe I should do that too. I'll just have to put a reminder on my calendar.

 

[ssferret]

Ummm, getting paranoid again. Attached are 2 photos of the embryo at Day 10 (today). One is the original and the other is me tweaking it to show the embryo in more detail. During this time the embryo was very active.

 

[ssferret]

I've just been reading posts (which I should have read a long time ago) that if it's alive and has good veins that leave it alone and just watch. My imagination just keeps seeing the egg explode and contaminate the only other one that I'd have left.

 

[aart]

I've just been reading posts (which I should have read a long time ago) that if it's alive and has good veins that leave it alone and just watch. My imagination just keeps seeing the egg explode and contaminate the only other one that I'd have left.

Yep, wait it out....and sniff every couple days.

 

[ssferret]

I decided to give y'all an update. It's day 15 today. I candled the egg in question yesterday, Day 14, and the embryo looks great!! It's also very active. I keep tell it to rest and save it's energy. It'll need it for the pipping and hatching but it just won't listen.

 

[ssferret]

No one has hatched or even pipped yet and it's day 22. I haven't even noticed any of the eggs even move. I am keeping my hands tied behind my back so I don't dare touch them in case they're late bloomers even though I already feel disappointed. My hygrometer, which seem to have been working steady before lockdown has become a little more erratic. The humidity increases when adding water but it doesn't take very long for it to drop down. It's improved with a sponge but only a little so I'm still thinking it might be the hygrometer. It worked great last year. Unfortunately I can't find it's twin to test it.

 

[ssferret]

A PIP!! A PIP!! Includes picture. Couldn't help myself. I'm excited! A half an hour from now marks the beginning of Day 23.

It's not from the one that began this thread but I now have high hopes for that one too!

 

[ssferret]

The peep in the above egg hatched yesterday not that long after the pip pic. I guess after she decided to finally hatch she was raring to go. (Yes I'm calling it a she. Hopefully she'll get the idea. ) She's doing great but so far nothing from her buddy in Egg C. My hope is beginning to dwindle again on that front.

I hate that she's alone. This was not supposed to happen. I had 5 incubating in the beginning but either the were infertile or the embryo died very early on. That left me with just the 2.

I actually got another incubator to hatch more chicks just in case only 1 survived. This time I got 2 out of 3 and they look really good. I'm more confident with this incubation because this newest incubator has its own hygrometer and easily controls the humidity as long as I keep up with the water supply. They're supposed to hatch next week on the 1st or 2nd of April. (I'll say the second because I doubt they'll hatch on the first. They're not fooling me. )

In the meantime I'm trying to give the lone chick as much attention as I can. It's not as good as having it's own kind but with chickens being so social as well as this one being newly hatched I think it would be detrimental to her otherwise.

 

[ssferret]

Bad news. The other chick is dead. I candled the egg this morning and it was obvious. I did feel I needed to know what happened though because it certainly had nothing to do with a blood circle and I think I might.

I'm going to describe in detail what I found when I opened up the egg. I need your help in determining what might have happened so I can hopefully fix it before my next 2 go into lockdown in a couple of days.

Last year I lost one of my chicks after it started trying to pip and failed. The yoke sac on that chick still needed to be absorbed.

Although this chick hadn't totally absorbed its yoke sac either it was very near. Other than that it was fully developed. To me, there was no doubt it suffocated. The question is why.

One thing I noticed is its head was still tucked down away from the air sac. It showed no signs that it ever moved from that spot. The chick also seemed too big to maneuver. The air sac was extra large at this point but it wasn't that way when I checked 2 days ago so I was thinking that it might be from gases released after it died even though I saw no decomposition as of yet or it really was the humidity.

The other thing I noticed is that the membrane was rubbery and thickish. Again I don't know if that happens after a chick dies or not but if it doesn't I would say the chick would have had a difficult time pipping through.

From what I've read in this forum it sounds like a humidity issue. Last year I kept the humidity at around 70 or slightly above during lockdown. This year after searching for the best humidity during lockdown I kept reading 60 - 65. You might also remember me having trouble with my hygrometer where the humidity would take a plunge shortly after I would get it stable.

I'm sorry if I was too detailed above. I've always thought too much information is better than too little.

Thanks everyone.