Cracked eggs in incubator?

[Lacrystol]

I just found one of the eggs under my brooder hen cracked pretty well, but membrane is still intact and we are at day 18 today, so I used the advice on this tread and candle waxed it, it took a good bit of wax so I will have to watch it closely to see if it starts pipping and needs help, or can they get though the wax easily? I am not sure when it cracked, could have been as much as 2 days ago since that was the last time I made my broody get off the nest (she wont get up on her own). Fingers crossed!!! The crack was on the side almost touching where the air sac was if that matters. I tried candling it and all I could see was darkness and air sac.

If I keep candling it will I see anything different just before or when it is trying to hatch? Or will I still see a dark mass and separate air sac?

Did you put the egg back with her? If so I would get it out and incubate it, the reason why is because her weight will sqoosh it. Ive had it done to many times. It needs to sit in a nice quiet place right now. The egg is now very delicate and can easily be smashed..

Also if it happened two days ago, your risking bacteria getting inside, so again your best bet is to just incubate that egg, when it hatches if it does, you can always sneek it underneath that momma..

 

[KrystalRose]

I don't have an incubator, and it might be a little late to put together a homemade one? But maybe I can throw something together tomorrow. On the plus side she doesn't move hardly at all on the nest (wont even get up on her own) and since we are so close to hatch I don't plan to make her get up again. And she is a fairly light girl so until I can arrange something else the egg will just have to sit with mama. Thanks for the advice though, for tonight I will just hope and pray. Tomorrow I will see what I can do.

The only thing I have on hand that I could maybe use is my plant heat mat that I use to start my garden seeds, it gets the dirt up to 80 degrees or so? Maybe I will put a thermometer in one of the trays I already have on the mat to see what the temp inside is? I know the temp for eggs is higher, so maybe I can figure a way to get it to the right temp, and my seed starting trays have covers that keep humidity inside really well.

Ok time to start experimenting....

 

[Lacrystol]

I don't have an incubator, and it might be a little late to put together a homemade one? But maybe I can throw something together tomorrow. On the plus side she doesn't move hardly at all on the nest (wont even get up on her own) and since we are so close to hatch I don't plan to make her get up again. And she is a fairly light girl so until I can arrange something else the egg will just have to sit with mama. Thanks for the advice though, for tonight I will just hope and pray. Tomorrow I will see what I can do.

The only thing I have on hand that I could maybe use is my plant heat mat that I use to start my garden seeds, it gets the dirt up to 80 degrees or so? Maybe I will put a thermometer in one of the trays I already have on the mat to see what the temp inside is? I know the temp for eggs is higher, so maybe I can figure a way to get it to the right temp, and my seed starting trays have covers that keep humidity inside really well.

Ok time to start experimenting....

If you don't have a bator than I would just leave it, your really close to hatching day. i would try to candle it again though, see if you see movement. If it's still moving then just keep an eye on it. Make sure it's in the lowest part of her. What I have done in the past is make the nesting house deeper so that her weight is around the outside of the nest and in the middle is the egg not touching her but in a spot where it can still keep warm.

If that makes sense....

 

[KrystalRose]

The egg is already under her in a spot that she doesn't put much weight since I was already worried about that. I candled it as good as I could earlier, since it is a blue/green egg it is very hard to see anything but darkness and air pocket, but I will look again later tonight and keep a close eye on it. I didn't candle any of the other eggs to compare so I will do that too although the others are light brown and much easier to candle and see into.

So I am still experimenting with the seed starter kit and heat mat. I am using a burpee seed tray that is supposed to hold like 12 of those round peat pucks and has a clear plastic top to keep humidity and heat in. I have a towel between the heat mat and tray and I set the thermometer slightly off the bottom of the tray so it wasn't directly on the heat and the thermometer is reading 100 degrees. If I put some damp pine chips in the bottom for humidity this could be used as a emergency only incubator right? Granted I am using a meat thermometer but it seems to be reading the house temp accurately so I think I can trust it. I am not sure I would use this for a normal incubator, but maybe you could???

 

[Lacrystol]

Yeh those greenish blue eggs are HARD to see anything.. Even a camera phone flashlight doesn't work.. As long as her weight is off of it, I won't worry to much about it. Just let her keep it warm. Check it every other day though..

Sounds like you got a plan, my only concern is you don't want the eggs to lay directly on that heat mat, so if there's some way to keep it off of it that would be EXCELLENT..

 

[KrystalRose]

I put some pine shavings in the bottom 1/2 inch of the tray to act as a heat barrier and put the thermometer on top of that, we will see how that goes. I just candled most of the other eggs and giggled as I saw them all move. The green one though I thought moved slightly, but could have been my imagination, also it looks more developed than the others, although that also could be the egg color fooling me. We will wait and see.

 

[hayoungyun]

I have a small crack on the side near the fat end of the egg. I've already sealed it with scotch tape but I'm worried about what will happen during birth. By the way todays day one.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I have a cracked egg in my 'bator. I had 2, but one quit early on. Anyway, it came to me cracked and I didn't discover it until I candled on day 7. The one that's left has been developing well. I sealed it with nail polish (couldn't find the birthdays candles when I needed them, but I did find them a few days later). It seems to be doing well, other than loosing moisture a bit more rapidly than the other eggs. It goes into lock down tomorrow, so it hatches (and doesn't need help).

 

[Lacrystol]

I have a small crack on the side near the fat end of the egg. I've already sealed it with scotch tape but I'm worried about what will happen during birth. By the way todays day one.

As long as it's sealed up good you'll be ok. Bacteria can very easily get in and end the process

 

[Lacrystol]

I have a cracked egg in my 'bator. I had 2, but one quit early on. Anyway, it came to me cracked and I didn't discover it until I candled on day 7. The one that's left has been developing well. I sealed it with nail polish (couldn't find the birthdays candles when I needed them, but I did find them a few days later). It seems to be doing well, other than loosing moisture a bit more rapidly than the other eggs. It goes into lock down tomorrow, so it hatches (and doesn't need help).

The only problem with nail polish is the fumes will get inside so less oxygen for them. But crossing fingers he's ok wooooo hoooo