Blood ring? Weird position embryo? Advice please

[Mother of Chicks]

I have a set of eggs on day 6 in incubator. The one I am talking about now has a detached air cell and so I didn't hold out too much hope and put it in a cut out egg carton tilting and turning manually to give it the best chance.

On day 4, I candled and saw what I thought was a blood ring but NO VEINS.

Today I can still see the 'blood ring' (or is it?) but it has little veins stemming from it. Is this because the embryo IS growing but is facing the air sac? In the other eggs of the same age I can see the foetus with eye, movement and heart beat. This one though, it's a bit weird. Attaching pictures. I would be grateful of opinions.

I have another with a blood ring (the only other detached air cell egg I have incubating) with no other veins but it's not smelling so I thought I'd leave it in a bit in case something weird like this happens. Thoughts?

Thanks all - appreciate any advice.

 

[CindyinSD]

The first one looks as though there may be a crack in the shell in the vicinity of the air cell. Other than that, the pics both look great.

 

[Mother of Chicks]

The first one looks as though there may be a crack in the shell in the vicinity of the air cell. Other than that, the pics both look great.

That's my pencil marking for day 1 - that's a relief - thank you!

 

[Punkybrewster]

My recomendation is to wait until around day 13 and candle. By then, if it is a viable developing egg, it will be darker inside. A sure sign something us growing. You can compare it to the others. If its not developing, you will be able to tell.

 

[CindyinSD]

It's fine to candle or it's fine to wait. I candle every night and at the same time, I rotate the eggs around the incubator to mitigate the effect of hot and cold spots. I candle so often because I love to witness the babies' progress. It is just so miraculous and beautiful to me--I really enjoy watching them grow.

Your egg is just fine. You see how delicate and defined those rose veins are? They're a little unusual in that they appear to be growing down from the air cell, but that's all right. Some eggs just look like that--I don't know why. They seem to hatch just fine. As long as you have those beautiful, defined veins, you're good. After a while, the embryo will move toward the center and you won't see it as well.

This is a natural part of the process. It will fill the egg (minus the air cell) and most of what you see will be darkness except at the intersection between the air cell and the chick. There, if you can hide most of the glowing air cell with the hand that's directing the flashlight, you may see feathery shapes or even the outline of little feet. You'll probably still see some veins right up against the air cell.

When you see the shape of the little beak or bill pushing into the air cell, it's time to lock down. You may hear peeping if you put the egg to your ear. The baby has internally pipped (broken into the air cell). Its respiration changes when this happens. It needs the air in that cell now, and will breath it for up to 24 hours until it pips the outer shell. From pip to zip may take a short couple of hours or sometimes less, but usually it will take up to a day.

Please join us in the May hatch-a-long thread where you'll have access to many experienced hatchers and you'll be able to share the joy with lots of like-minded hatching addicts.

I should note that waterfowl tend to move through this process much more slowly and require a LOT of patience and self restraint.