Broken Egg Dilemma/Experiment--Needed to Share

[tiffanyh]

So about 3 weeks ago-actually 20 days to be exact, I received an order of a dozen eggs. When I opened the box to unpack them, 4 of the 12 were broken. Was one broken enough that there was yolk on the bubble wrap with it. The other 3 had the small end of the egg pushed in slightly.

As a remedy, I took nontoxic crayon (yellow) and melted it over the end of the egg to create a seal. I stuck it in the bator and here where my results:

Broken Egg 1: Was not fertile from what I can tell. On Day three was perfectly clear. Tossed it.

Broken Egg 2: Made it to Day 14 when it had a blood ring. I waited a couple more day to be sure and tossed it.

Broken Egg 3: Made it to Day 19 (today) and is bouncing around in the incubator as we speak.

I dont know if it'll hatch or not but he made it this far. I just wanted to share this experiment because I know many people received shipped eggs. I heard of someone else doing it towards the end of a hatch here on this forum and I gave it a go figuring "what the h^%l" and apparently it can work. The crayon seal I made was about the size of a nickel since the cracks were quite large. I made it a bit bigger than needed but not so big I thought it would interfer with moisture loss.

So if you ever run into the situation in the future I hope it works for you!

 

[Poison Ivy]

That's good to know for when I decide to order eggs again. I did the crayon thing at day 14 and it hatched a week later. I had 4 replacement eggs sent to me last week but one was broke open but the other 3 look good. I'm waiting for several more days before I candle to see if they are any good. Little chicks are tough if you ask me.

 

[marie_martin]

I know you have to melt the crayon to get it on there, how does that heated wax affect the egg/chick? Can it be too hot and do harm? How did you do it exactly, just hold the crayon over the egg and let the melting wax drip on the area? or what. Just for future reference. I had one like that hatch and I had put some craft glue on the crack. It worked.

Marie

 

[tiffanyh]

i just placed the egg in an egg carton with the crack facing up and used a lighter to melt a crayon, I moved it around to place the drip. It obvious didnt harm the egg at all. If you drip wax like that on yourself it burns a second but cools quickly. THe chick is comfortable at 100 degree temps and you are putting it on the shell, not the chick itself, so I am assuming it has little to no affect on the chick.

I have heard about the glue also, but long tgerm, I though wax would dry better and hold longer in the incubator heat.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

I used masking tape on one of mine that had some hairline cracks. It was only a few days from hatching and I wasn't thinking straight and dropped it. It pulled through just fine, but I recall I also removed the tape after it had pipped to help it hatch easier.