Day 11 - Leave it be or throw it out?

[mmcclennen]

All 21 eggs we have incubating are going strong .... except this little guy! The photos below are from a few angles - (Please ignore the air cell marking lines - we are hatching in three separate classrooms, and my coworker marked all the air cells incorrectly, I never observed an air cell in this egg)



The air cell has not been clear since I began candeling at day 7. Today is day 11 and we are approaching day 14 - when i have read you should generally take out any non developing eggs.

Is this a blood ring? I have seen them before but always going horizontally instead of vertically. Should I give up on this guy?


Anyone who wants to follow along on my journey of teaching early agriculture and life sciences while meeting rigorous science standards in my head start classroom- please check our our website!

 

[Mirajane]

All 21 eggs we have incubating are going strong .... except this little guy! The photos below are from a few angles - (Please ignore the air cell marking lines - we are hatching in three separate classrooms, and my coworker marked all the air cells incorrectly, I never observed an air cell in this egg) The air cell has not been clear since I began candeling at day 7. Today is day 11 and we are approaching day 14 - when i have read you should generally take out any non developing eggs. Is this a blood ring? I have seen them before but always going horizontally instead of vertically. Should I give up on this guy? Anyone who wants to follow along on my journey of teaching early agriculture and life sciences while meeting rigorous science standards in my head start classroom- please check our our website!

Hi there! Yes, this egg has definently passed, and should be thrown away, or you risk an exploding egg or bacteria forming and disease killing all of your eggs. The blood would normally form a blood ring, but in this case it looks more like the embryo may have been killed from someone jerking the egg around too fast, killing it or if had already died, the blood from the veins moved. In either case, the eggs have been handled too crazily. It's a seriously hard process. Have you been candling every day? If you have to candle every day, try candling a different egg each time. Otherwise it can damage the embryo, and that's why a lot of people only candle about 3-4 times.At day 11, you should easily be able to see thick veins, and an embryo bobbing around in there. Good luck on your hatch! By the way, when I get eggs like that I get a small ziploc and put them inside with a little air because I like to crack them open. It looks pretty cool. Always in a sealed ziploc though, just in case it explodes... And ziploc for throwing it away too. No one wants that all over their hands!

 

[mmcclennen]

Thank you for your help!! I've been incubating eggs for years at school and have been teaching two new teachers how to do the process - I'm worried perhaps everyone is doing as you said and candeling daily! Sometimes I forget that not all teachers are chicken crazy like me

I will get this egg out of the incubator ASAP! Thanks for the ziploc bag tip, it'll be interesting to show that to my students as well since we are learning about the yolk right now!

All our other eggs are looking exactly as you described - we will keep our hands off until lockdown!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thank you for your help!! I've been incubating eggs for years at school and have been teaching two new teachers how to do the process - I'm worried perhaps everyone is doing as you said and candeling daily! Sometimes I forget that not all teachers are chicken crazy like me

I will get this egg out of the incubator ASAP! Thanks for the ziploc bag tip, it'll be interesting to show that to my students as well since we are learning about the yolk right now!

All our other eggs are looking exactly as you described - we will keep our hands off until lockdown!

I candle regularly to spot check my eggs and check the air cells for proper growth usually four or five different eggs nightly. Last year I did an experiment, cause I was sick of hearing people say it's not good to candle. 6/20 of my eggs I set aside for candling every single night. Every single egg made it to lockdown and every single egg hatched out perfectly healthy baby chicks. Now, I would NOT suggest candling every night on shipped eggs as they are more fragile to begin with, but if you are using local eggs and have a good candling system, obviously you are taking precautions during candling seeing as how you are wearing latex gloves, then don't miss an opportunity to let the kids see the advancement in developing through the incubation period. I'm not saying candle every day, but don't miss the opportunity to get a look at life in progress. The hens certainly don't baby the eggs when they are laying on them. As long as you are gentle and clean and don't have them out for extended periods, its a great opportunity to teach.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Oh and here's a great thread with daily candling pics to compare with: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

 

[Mirajane]

Chick incubating is so fun. I'm hearing some peeps from my incubator right now! Good luck with your kids and your chicks, and remember you can always question anything, even PM me if you want!