Cracked & dislodged air cell

[BuChix]

Got some shipped eggs in the mail today. All except this one look fine. This one not only has a bunch of very fine cracks (I could not tell by looking at the egg in normal lighting but it became very apparent when candled. It is not oozing). The air cell completely goes from one end to the other, and all around. Any hope for it, or should I toss it?

 

[silkie1472]

This is a very common problem with shipped eggs—this is just a little more severe. What you need to do is let the eggs rest for a day or two. With the egg you aren’t sure about, make sure the point is down so the air cell can (maybe) settle again. Only then would I decide to throw it away.

 

[lena_]

Is it a rare breed or expensive egg? If it is a slightly cheaper egg I would toss it, as not to risk any bacteria spread to the other eggs. However if it is a bird that could potentially be helpful to building the species population or increasing the quality of a breed then I would leave it to settle for a couple of days and see if the air cell settles.

 

[silkie1472]

Is it a rare breed or expensive egg? If it is a slightly cheaper egg I would toss it, as not to risk any bacteria spread to the other eggs. However if it is a bird that could potentially be helpful to building the species population or increasing the quality of a breed then I would leave it to settle for a couple of days and see if the air cell settles.

Feather Hearts is right. This is what I would do anyways. The egg appeared porous, and you also said it had hairline cracks. If the egg were to ooze during incubation from being bad, it may affect other embryos due to rapid bacteria growth.

 

[BuChix]

It was an expensive egg but it was also one of 12. It's from a best of breed silkie. I don't want to compromise the others since I'm incubating other eggs in the same incubator.

If that one looked porous, I've got another one that looks waaaay more porous than that one. I wonder if I should cull it even if it's on day 14 and developing so far? I don't want to compromise 28 eggs if one or two are going to introduce bacteria.

 

[PaulX]

I had an egg with minor cracks but intact inner membrane. That one lost moisture more quickly than the others (even with the cracks taped) but it hatched, so I wouldn't worry about it being porous except keep in mind that it may require different humidity from the rest.

That being said, the egg also looks very old as the air cell seems very large. 4 of 9 of my dislodged air cell eggs quit within 8 days and those 4 had very badly dislodged air cells like this one.

I'd say you don't have to worry about exploders as long as you check the eggs often enough, but I wouldn't place any hope on it all things considered.

 

[chickens really]

@WVduckchick

 

[BuChix]

I've decided to toss it, thanks so much guys.