Day 25 ... UPDATE: Introducing the chick that survived (Photos)

[NaomiSarah]

How is your humidity right now? Big air sac can mean shrink wrapped chick, but it doesn't necessarily mean that. If you can still see some light thru the shell where the chick is, chances are it's not quite ready yet. I can never see anything but darkness where the chick is in my eggs, and I can only see light through the chick-part of the egg until about day 19.

Did you have any temp dips or a slow temp start?

 

[JulieZ]

Quote:
Where the chick is is nothing but black. It's only the fat end of the egg where I can see the air sack.
My temps have been amazing through the entire process except the day before lock down where it went to 102 for less than an hour. My humidity has had up's & downs since lock down ... 65 to 80 but all in all it stays about 75.

What is shrink wrap? Do I even want to know right now?

 

[incubatingisfun]

its wear the membrane shrink wraps the chick and it cant break out and dies.if your temp was low at one time they could just not be ready to hathc

 

[JulieZ]

Oh my gosh that sounds horrible. Is there any way to see this through candling? What can I do? Should I crack open a small hole in the egg or let nature be nature? Then again ... am I nature?

 

[NaomiSarah]

Dont crack anything today! I'd wait til day 23 or even 24 before cracking one. You can candle them all briefly and look for the beak in the air sac, that'll tell you if they're starting to hatch, just watch that they arent out of the bator more than a minute each!

Shrink wrap is when the humidity has dropped. A chick can shrink wrap if you crack the shell before it has pipped and it can shrink wrap if the humidity overall was very low during incubation. The membrane dries out and sticks to the chick, but if your temps and humidity have been stable you shouldn't have to worry about it - as long as you don't expose any membranes to the air! Even in proper humidity in an incubator, the membrane dries out REALLY fast with the shell cracked. I don't think you have that problem, I think IF there's a problem (which there isn't necessarily) it's from shipping.

 

[NaomiSarah]

Don't worry - chickens are like, the personification of nature. They do everything themselves if you just provide them the right temperature and humidity and access to food and water. Tamper less and more will hatch, and those that don't weren't strong enough for this world. You're doing a perfect job, I was all hands-in-the-bator when I first started hatching and ruined TONS of eggs.

 

[JulieZ]

I finished candling each egg. THEY ALL have that perfectly round bubbled air sack at the fat end, except the one that looking like a twisted balloon. No beak, no movement. It looks like an egg at 3 - 5 days old at the end. Crystal clear. The rest of the inside is all black. Is it too premature to prepare myself for the worst? I'll leave them in for another day, candle them around noon tomorrow & let them go if need be. Is that the right thinking? The one egg is from me ... no traveling involved. I held onto it for 3 days in a cool place before incubating. I turned it 3 and 5 times per day. Devastation .... what a useless feeling.

 

[JulieZ]

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT !!!!

I went in & did another candling. Going slowly over each one, unlike earlier when I was in a rush to get them back in bator, and by the 3rd egg I had seen enough & quickly got the temps back up. Movement, veins, blood flow ... I went to screaming in excitement "THEY ARE ALIVE! THEY ARE ALIVE!"

 

[LaurenM23]

YAY, Julie! What wonderful news!!! Good luck with your hatch!

 

[JulieZ]

On one of the eggs ... the one I've noticed some discoloring too but no bad smell ... the pores of the egg are getting much larger. Almost like pen dots. Only on the fat end of the egg. Is there something I should know about this?