Dissected eggs

[morgakl2]

I had my class dissect the eggs that didn't hatch (which was all of them). We were able to identify what day they quit on. Most were early quiters like day 4-6. Probably due to me moving the eggs from the dog house (where the hen layed them) to the incubator. But one egg looked like day 16 or 17. It had feathers, beak, feet. I almost started crying. Why on earth would it die on day 16 or 17? Could it have been the power outage we had for 6 hours due to a freak lighting storm?

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Maybe? Were they shipped? If so from where? AlsoDid you take pics? Just wondering, I would kinda like to know what they would look like without opening a live egg.

 

[Griffin Nest]

what temperature did you incubate at and how much research did you do before incubating?

 

[morgakl2]

oh it's a long story of the young and the restless chicken addition. On July 22, I found 10 eggs that my only hen had laid for I don't know how long. She had laid 1 in the coop and 9 in the goat's dog house. I moved them into a box and put that box in the coop, but she refused to sit on them after I had moved them. I would have left them in the goat's house, but she could have at risk of a preditor or the goat could have broken the eggs while taking cover during a storm. I moved them into an incubator the next day. This was her first ever laying and my first ever incubating. I did a lot of BYC research. I'm guessing most of the eggs died in between the time she stopped sitting on them and the time I finally got the incubator regulated. (huge learning curve). On August 3, the power was out over night for 6 hours. Before then, I had good humidity between 43-50% and temp 98-99. I did get a picture of the egg that died on Day 16-17. I will try to get that posted tomorrow.

I have eggs in the bator now that were shipped from Penn. Temp has been 99-100. Hope this round goes better.

 

[lucyboo]

Quote:
i am sorry you had to see the kids disect them!!! i had to clean up a dead baby chick (5 days old) that my broody steped on!!! now, even though its not the same thing, i do relate because my dad had to open the egg more to see how old it was!!! again, i am so sorry!

God bless!!!

<3 kelsey

 

[Gypsy07]

Sounds like most of them quit with the move like you said. The one that made it further was probably just bad luck. Most hatches I do I'll get one or two that make it almost all the way and then just quit, while the rest hatch healthy and fine. Probably nothing specific you did and just one of those things. Next time gather your hen's eggs each day and store them carefully before you set them. You should have a much better chance of success that way.

 

[morgakl2]

Quote:
thank you for letting me know that a late quitter can happen to anyone and it's just one of those things. I'm going to try to get a picture uploaded soon.

 

[wbruder17]

I had set 12 quail eggs under 2 of my broody hens. 1 broke early on and 7 hatched. I dissected the 4 remaining eggs on Day 22 (quail gestation in 18 days). 2 were yolks that never began development. 1 was a nasty mess of feathers, blood and yolk. The 4th was a full grown chick, dead, but would have been ready to hatch. Id love to know why that one didn't hatch.

 

[Gypsy07]

Again, probably just one of those things. A weaker chick or one with some kind of congenital abnormality. Natural selection at work. If seven hatched out okay and none got stuck or died after pipping, then your incubating skills are obviously fine. I know it's annoying and frustrating not to have a definite reason but that's just how hatching goes...