Chick Dead in Egg

[cdtaylor91]

So far I have had 5/11 eggs I put in the incubator hatch. On day 20, I had one egg that had pipped and hatch on day 21. Early on day 21 I had another pipped. The one that pipped was chirping and seemed to be doing fine. When I came back later that evening to check on the chick and one pipped egg, I noticed the pipped egg had stopped breathing and had yellow gunk around the opening. Can anyone explain what happened? All the other eggs hatched fine. I'm currently on day 24 waiting to see if the other 5 hatch, if nothing by tomorrow night they'll be discarded.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

So far I have had 5/11 eggs I put in the incubator hatch. On day 20, I had one egg that had pipped and hatch on day 21. Early on day 21 I had another pipped. The one that pipped was chirping and seemed to be doing fine. When I came back later that evening to check on the chick and one pipped egg, I noticed the pipped egg had stopped breathing and had yellow gunk around the opening. Can anyone explain what happened? All the other eggs hatched fine. I'm currently on day 24 waiting to see if the other 5 hatch, if nothing by tomorrow night they'll be discarded.

What was your humidity running at prior to and at lockdown? Sometimes yellow "goo" can be a sign that the humidity was too high, and it can encase the chick, causing hatching difficulty or drowning the chick.

If you're at day 24, it might be time to consider whether you should intervene with the remaining eggs. Here's a helpful guide, if you choose to go that route: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching. They could still be on track to hatch by themselves, but sometimes a little (judicious) help can make the difference.

 

[cdtaylor91]

Ah maybe that's what is was. I didn't have a hygrometer before starting (didn't realize I needed one) until they started hatching. I was using an old school incubator. I figured they were doing fine though since I had 4 hatch without an issue. I did have to intervene with one cause he pipped and tried to unsuccessfully unzip himself for over 24 hours. That made me believe the humidity was too low cause it appeared his membrane had dried. I don't believe I will interfere if they don't hatch by the 25th or 26th day. I guess it depends on personal preference in that regard.