Can anyone help me work out what was going on with these eggs? (v bad candling pics)

[Lorax]

Background: we bought 12 eggs from our farmer. She said she wasn’t sure how many were fertilised but we got them for almost nothing.

We put them under our broody hen Betty. On about day six, she systematically threw out/destroyed five of the eggs which all proved to be (AFAIK) unfertilised, so it’s like she knew. She sat on the other seven eggs diligently til day 21 when, right on cue, two chicks hatched within about two hours of each other.

About 36 hours later she abandoned her eggs to care for her chicks, in so doing she stepped on an egg and cracked it. When we opened it there was a fully formed, dead, chick.

We put the other eggs in a DIY incubator for another 36 hours but nothing. I then candled the other eggs (pics attached). I feel really stupid saying this now but we didn’t open the unhatched eggs. I just couldn’t face it.

I know I should have taken pics in the dark but I didn’t. I did candle them in the dark but they looked very similar. Just like fluid with a big air sac. So not sure if just 21day old really gone off eggs that were never fertilised or something else. I’ve seen lots of pics of candled eggs with chicks at various stages of development, but nothing for 21 day old eggs that never hatched so not sure what happened to these. For next time it’d be good to know. Any thoughts?

 

[em_dawson]

Don't beat yourself up about not opening the eggs- some people do it, and some people don't. The first egg looks like something may have started to develop, but quit at some point along the way. As far as I can see, there's no veins left, so the material inside the egg has already decomposed. The second (? fourth picture) looks less developed, so it may have been infertile or quit very early. The last egg with the speckled shell is a bit hard to tell, especially if the eggshell is dark, but it looks also like a possible infertile/early quitter. I'm not sure why momma hen would take out some of the infertile eggs and not others, but I could be wrong. Like you said, it's a bit hard to tell when the room isn't dark, so those are just guesses. It's likely nothing you did wrong, they were under a broody, after all. Nature just has its way sometimes. Hope the two babies and momma are doing well.

 

[Lorax]

Don't beat yourself up about not opening the eggs- some people do it, and some people don't. The first egg looks like something may have started to develop, but quit at some point along the way. As far as I can see, there's no veins left, so the material inside the egg has already decomposed. The second (? fourth picture) looks less developed, so it may have been infertile or quit very early. The last egg with the speckled shell is a bit hard to tell, especially if the eggshell is dark, but it looks also like a possible infertile/early quitter. I'm not sure why momma hen would take out some of the infertile eggs and not others, but I could be wrong. Like you said, it's a bit hard to tell when the room isn't dark, so those are just guesses. It's likely nothing you did wrong, they were under a broody, after all. Nature just has its way sometimes. Hope the two babies and momma are doing well.

Thanks so much.

 

[DogAndCat36]

The egg at the bottom has a big amount of pores. They tend to not develop.

 

[Lorax]

The egg at the bottom has a big amount of pores. They tend to not develop.

Thanks. I did see that on another thread here. Any idea why?

 

[DogAndCat36]

Thanks. I did see that on another thread here. Any idea why?

I guess that it is because bacteria can enter easier?