Day 25 chick dead in shell. What happened?

[VaultGirl27]

I have a broody hen and her eggs are late to hatch. Today is day 25. Well when I went down today, I smelled a really fowl smell like something was rotting. So I checked her eggs and she had thrown one out from under her. She's been throwing it out the last couple days, but then she'll sit on it again. Anyway, it was laying out, so I picked it up and smelled it and it smell bad. So I'm thinking that this baby died and it's rotting now. I take it inside to candle it just to be sure. I see no movement on its own. So between her abandoning this egg, the smell, and detecting no movement, I decided to pull the egg from the nest. Since I did that, I wanted to see if I could tell what happened and learn from it. I've been looking at "eggtopsies" online and I'm realizing that the yolk in this egg was huge for the developmental stage. It was bigger than the chick and took up more than half the egg. I'm wondering, does anyone know what the issue might have been for this chick? I wish I had taken a picture when I opened it. I went back and took one, but the yolk is ruptured so you can't see the size of it. I'll post picture of the chick so maybe someone can figure out how many days developed it was and potentially why it died. It is roughly the size of a golf ball.

 

[MoffatChicken]

Sorry to hear about your chick ... I have hatched lots of chicks and there are always some that fully/partly develop that don't hatch. If the yoke was as large as you described then it didn't finish developing and probably died on day 18'ish. Probably a random birth defect that stopped the chick development, happens in all animals including humans.

 

[MGG]

Sorry to hear about your chick ... I have hatched lots of chicks and there are always some that fully/partly develop that don't hatch. If the yoke was as large as you described then it didn't finish developing and probably died on day 18'ish. Probably a random birth defect that stopped the chick development, happens in all animals including humans.

X2. It looks about day 14 though.

 

[VaultGirl27]

X2. It looks about day 14 though.

Thank you. My hen is still sitting on 3 eggs. None have hatched but I was able to see movement in all of those three on Friday, day 23. Wondering if those have a chance. Should I candle again tonight or leave them be?

 

[MGG]

Thank you. My hen is still sitting on 3 eggs. None have hatched but I was able to see movement in all of those three on Friday, day 23. Wondering if those have a chance. Should I candle again tonight or leave them be?

I would leave them be. The hen probably knew the egg was dead. If she hasn't kicked any others out there's a good chance some might hatch still. It's odd they're taking so long though

 

[VaultGirl27]

I would leave them be. The hen probably knew the egg was dead. If she hasn't kicked any others out there's a good chance some might hatch still. It's odd they're taking so long though

Yea I really have no idea. This is my first broody hen and my first hatch ever. This is the video I took on day 23. It says day 24 but I meant 23.

 

[MGG]

Yea I really have no idea. This is my first broody hen and my first hatch ever. This is the video I took on day 23. It says day 24 but I meant 23.

That's a really cool video! Where do you live? Does it get really cold at night or anything? Cool temps are what woupd cause them to develop so slowly. Have any other hens added eggs to the nest that could be younger?

 

[VaultGirl27]

That's a really cool video! Where do you live? Does it get really cold at night or anything? Cool temps are what woupd cause them to develop so slowly. Have any other hens added eggs to the nest that could be younger?

Thank you . I live in San Diego. Our temps have been really weird and fluctuating throughout her setting. I'd say days 6-14ish were cold and rainy. The last 4 days have been scorching hot like around 90-100. And everything in between for days 15-21. But we're in the mountain region so it does get pretty cold at night. She's been in a metal dog crate since I gave her eggs to sit on, so they were all set the same day. The other two are banty eggs.

 

[MGG]

Thank you . I live in San Diego. Our temps have been really weird and fluctuating throughout her setting. I'd say days 6-14ish were cold and rainy. The last 4 days have been scorching hot like around 90-100. And everything in between for days 15-21. But we're in the mountain region so it does get pretty cold at night. She's been in a metal dog crate since I gave her eggs to sit on, so they were all set the same day. The other two are banty eggs.

Well idk then. Its weird they're so late. They should even be early since your temps have been higher during the day. Its odd

 

[MGG]

Let me know how they do.