Bunch of candling development pics!

[Kiraeh]

Hatch complete! Sorry for no updates, it's been really busy at work. I had two of the 17 that went into lockdown not make it- one orpington pipped a big hole, was rolled underneath the fan by a hatchmate, and the membrane dried hard as rock. I went to soften it(hours later when I got home from work), it looked clear so I started gently getting the crusty bits off, but the blood must have only left the dried part. I stopped right away and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too late. . Chick weakened over the rest of the evening.

I had another polishxsilkie go, pipped internally and then something happened. Interesting eggtopsy. I'll write up that one and my day 15 quitter in another post soon

The buff chick is out of the egg that I cracked day 1 though! Didn't even need help to hatch. So I consider that a nice success.

The mirror we gave Neo is INCREDIBLY POPULAR they all love it. There's always a chick or two hanging out in front of it.

 

[chelseachook]

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Hatch complete! Sorry for no updates, it's been really busy at work. I had two of the 17 that went into lockdown not make it- one orpington pipped a big hole, was rolled underneath the fan by a hatchmate, and the membrane dried hard as rock. I went to soften it(hours later when I got home from work), it looked clear so I started gently getting the crusty bits off, but the blood must have only left the dried part. I stopped right away and tried to stop the bleeding, but it was too late. . Chick weakened over the rest of the evening.

I had another polishxsilkie go, pipped internally and then something happened. Interesting eggtopsy. I'll write up that one and my day 15 quitter in another post soon

The buff chick is out of the egg that I cracked day 1 though! Didn't even need help to hatch. So I consider that a nice success.

View attachment 2257530View attachment 2257534
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The mirror we gave Neo is INCREDIBLY POPULAR they all love it. There's always a chick or two hanging out in front of it.

Congrats! They're adorable!

 

[Kiraeh]

Almost two weeks later, the fresh babies are doing great!

And Neo is doing well too, still a very spoiled chicken.

So! I never posted those two quitters. Let's do that, and then things are wrapped up until the incubator starts up again.

First quitter:
This one was alive and moving on day 14, but must have died shortly after I checked it then, the veins were gone by day 16. Here it is before I opened it:

I gave it a few days to make sure I was interpreting it right, but compare that to the other candling around the same time... Pretty cut and dry. This was a light, easy to candle egg. One of the polishxsilkie, which were washed and in with the unwashed orpingtons, so between that and the timing I think it must have been bacterial.

Spoiler: Eggtopsy #1

Unfortunately all the eggtopsy really shows is that this is the one egg I got that had a showgirl in it! And a buff or partridge! I'm so mad haha I really wanted one. I don't know if the redness of the yolk or the yellow stuff is normal or a sign of bacteria or just a result of leaving it for a few days before opening the egg. There was no smell.

And #2! This one seemed to pip internally before dying. It had a lot of fluid loose in the egg so perhaps it drowned, but I thought I faintly smelled something so maybe there was also a bacterial issue there? It was also a wonky shaped egg, which could explain the excess fluid perhaps. My hatch was dry otherwise and this egg lost the right amount of weight, I don't think it was humidity alone.

It was really shocking to me how quickly this egg went. I check the eggs in the morning and it was fine, live chick, looked like it had pipped internally or was maybe just about to. Twelve hours later it was like this.

Spoiler: Eggtopsy #2, this one is a mess

So was it just too much moisture and drowned? How could it have done that when every other egg in my hatch was if anything too dry? Did it pip into a blood vessel and bleed out and drown? Why is the fluid so yellow when it doesn't look like the yolk was broken? Is the air buildup(the swelling on the neck is air) just from not eggtopsying right away or does that confirm bacterial infection?
One day I'll have enough experience to answer those questions but for now, I've got nothing.