Can eggs mature at different times?

[riaketty]

Hi all. We have 13 eggs in the incubator this time around. They're due to hatch this weekend. I did the last candling today before we go into lockdown and found something odd.

Many of them looked like typical almost-hatched eggs. Very little space in the egg, big air sac, etc.

A few looked like they were only about half way through the cycle! But two of them I candled actually moved! Very obvious movement.

Is this... possible? They were all put in on the same day. Some were older eggs and some were fresher but would that make a difference? Should I leave them in there extra time to see if they keep growing or are they probably retarded and won't hatch/live anyway?

 

[Becci]

The age of the eggs before incubation doesn't matter, being that they are developing, they should all be at the same point into incubation. Do you have still or forced air? With still airs, it's possible to have hot spots. Some of the eggs may have been cooler than the others causing development to slow down.

Welcome to BYC, by the way.

 

[Quyen Le]

Older eggs will take longer time to hatch but not by much. lower temp will delay hatch up to 4-5 days. I have the same problem too. On the same tray (same temperature), some eggs hatched 3 days later than others.

 

[riaketty]

The age of the eggs before incubation doesn't matter, being that they are developing, they should all be at the same point into incubation. Do you have still or forced air? With still airs, it's possible to have hot spots. Some of the eggs may have been cooler than the others causing development to slow down.

Welcome to BYC, by the way.

It's a forced air and stays pretty steady.

So as long as I see growth should I let them try to hatch?

 

[Ridgerunner]

There are a whole lot of different things that can cause an egg to be early or late. A big one is the average incubating temperature. My first hatches I had eggs pipping when I went into lockdown until I adjusted the temperature and got it better. I've had eggs under a broody hatch a couple of day early. Others have had experiences with late hatches.

Some of the other things that can affect how fast an egg develops are heredity, humidity, general size of the egg (smaller are often earlier), and how and how long they are stored before incubation. I'm sure there are several other factors. That 21 days to hatch is more of a target and average than an absolute.

There's even the thing that some people don't count to 21 very well. An easy check on your counting is that the day of the week you set them is the day of the week they should hatch. For example, if you set them on a Friday, the 21 days is up the same time on a Friday.

Usually my hatches are over within 24 hours of when they start, but I've had some that went over two days. I think what cauesd that is when I stored them, the house temperatures were in the 80's Fahrenheit. I think some of the eggs developed a bit while I was waiting to get enough.

I advise patience. Some people may try to frighten you by telling you the eggs will explode if you leave them in there a bit. That is generally not a problem. If you smell a rotten egg smell, very carefully and gently try to identify that egg and and very carefully and gently get it out of your house without delay. You do need to pay attention but the risk of an egg exploding is not really that great. If one does, it is not good so do pay attention.