Blood on egg and When do you give up on a fertilized egg hatching

[ChickieGirl1979]

I have a new layer as of yesterday, an Easter Egger. Today I went and gathered eggs and noticed her egg had some blood on it. Is this normal? Will she be ok? Does she need the vet?

I have a silkie brooding some eggs that were fertilized. The 21 day mark passed yesterday. How long do I go before assuming the eggs are duds and disposing of them?? She sits in them religiously getting up to eat and drink only. Poor baby girl.

 

[baredrock101]

If this is the first time you found blood on and egg she is probably fine. It happens to my eggs from time to time.

Hold the fertilized eggs under a REAL bright light and you should be able to see if the chick inside is forming. If you can not see a chick the light my not be bright enough if so leave it until the 25-30 day mark.

 

[ChickieGirl1979]

Thank you so much! Should the room be dark with I hold the light under them? This is my first go round st this.

 

[baredrock101]

If you can it might help you see inside. I don't my light is to big so it lights up the hole room but I can still see inside the eggs.

 

[ChickieGirl1979]

She had 4 eggs she was brooding when I went to bed last night. I woke up to 3 eggs but no chock. There was no shell or any mess either. What happened?

 

[Shezadandy]

Well, either she ate a bad egg or it hatched and something else happened to it. If you've got the broody in an area where nobody else can reach them, it may be she disposed of a bad egg. Snakes eat eggs, rats will eat eggs... hard to know. Our first broody seemed to have done this- ate the non-starters- and she also ate the egg shells and related materials after her chicks hatched. There are hens that will eat chicks to- sometimes if the flock can get it ... sigh.

All you need is a little flashlight (those little LEDs for $1 or 2 are decent) to see if there's anything in the egg.
Generally if you're in dark room (either the coop at night or an interior room with no windows) with a bright light, you'll see little movements from the chick inside. I would do a search on candling.

Here's a good day-by-day candling thread with pictures of each day's development:

http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/03/chicken-embryo-development-views-from.html

If you've got full eggs with movement, then I would find a way to watch her-- not sure how grumpy she is about getting her eggs handled, but periodically checking for pips (1st crack, and you can usually hear peeping) so you know one is coming. I wouldn't move her though- that can cause more problems.