coturnix quail eggs Q?

[Isablahblah]

is it normal for unborn chicks to die in the shell?

 

[Cherlyn]

Quote:
I am wondering the same thing, sort of.

~Cherlyn

 

[lotzahenz]

It is not "normal" but it is common. There are a lot of reasons this happens. Some dry out once pipped, some are just weak to start with. Some are mal-positioned and internally pip in the wrong place or not at all. It is frustrating. I think the worst is when they pip and you can see the beak and then nothing. They sit there until they die. There are a lot of posts on here about helping them out, which I do at times. Some folks don't think they should be helped, as they are weak for some reason. I think they should be helped if it's an incubator problem that caused the poor hatch, it's the only chance the chick has and would not have had this problem if under a hen. Some say the chicks pip and drown if the humidity has been too high. Not sure this helps any............HenZ

 

[Isablahblah]

yeah it sucks because in the 3 i found the break was showing but they were died!

 

[robbdebbie]

I had two that were like this. They pipped and were chirping through the hole, but wouldn't come out. I ended up helping them out a little bit. I cracked the shell in a zip pattern, but didn't rip the membrane. One then pushed out, the other still didn't come out so I ripped the membrane a little. They both were very weak, and had unusually floppy necks. Needless to say they both died within an hour, but at least they were out of their misery.

I had one that pipped, then zipped the shell but not the membrane. This membrane was thicker than the others, so I ripped it a bit and he popped out on his own. He was backwards in the egg and couldn't get in a good postition. He is fine and can't tell him apart from the others.

 

[ksukristin]

I am so sorry to hear this! I am going to be incubating my first set of eggs soon and am also nervous about things like this...

hopefully you got some strong ones to hatch successfully...

 

[quailbrain]

Are you running your humidity high after you stopped turning the eggs? Are you opening the incubator? Humidity is crucial in that last part of incubating.

 

[protodon]

I've had various problems like this where the chick will just sit there. I think part of the problem comes from having a fan in the incubator. I've had the thermometer say the humidity was in the 70's but when I help these chicks that membrane is so dry and they are stuck in there. I think the movement of the air just sucks the moisture right out of their little pipping holes.

I think it is okay to help in these cases but the trick is knowing when to help. If you try to help a chick that needs no help you'll probably cut a blood vessel or something and kill it. But if you wait too long for the chick to come out( if it's dry and stuck) you risk them being deformed and not overcoming that deformity. I've only lost chicks that I've helped due to deforming from sitting in that egg and never from a general weakness. Most of the time it is because their legs or feet are curled up and they can't get them right.

 

[Wawa21]

I just had a hatch( not to good) and the same thing. My nephews opened the eggs and almost all had dead chicks some were not to hairy and the others were pretty much hairy. But do you people think
That a temp spike can cause this?

 

[dave3877]

i have had many ameraucana chicks pip and hatch backwards but i havent had to help any of them. asfar as dead chicks ive had it happen across the board. it sucks