dumb question but ive always wondered

[allmychickens]

would it be possible to hatch a shell less egg in an incubator so that you could watch it grow inside???

 

[conny63malies]

maybe i a single egg bator that was custom made for that kind of hatching experiment?

 

[Dewsetter]

I have watched some You Tube videos on this subject. There were several experiments carried out by the same person using different methods but they never seemed to thrive very far into incubation. I found the posts by accident when I was looking for candling pictures and it all made me feel slightly sick as I found it unethical. Have a look on there as someone may have managed to get further on by now. Just an idea though, I recently hatched some duck eggs (don't know what breed and I have since rehomed the ducklings) and the egg shells were almost see through. I have never been so mesmorized by candling eggs, I could literally see every tiny change in the egg each day even from day 1! Obviously the early days were clearer as more light was allowed through the egg, the later days were restriced to more periferal images of beaks and feet but fascinating just the same.

 

[conny63malies]

i wonder if it would be possible to cut a clear glass easter egg that is slightly larger in half and insert the shellless one and tape it back together to use it as a back up shell and security ideally with a hole on top for air

 

[ki4got]

Quote:
i was thinking something along that line too, but no, the 'shell' would have to be totally porous, as the network of blood vessels around the outside of the egg are it's respiratory system as the chick grows in size.

and to incubate a shell-less egg, you would probably have to have a sterile environment as well, since the shell is somewhat bacteriostatic and also a higher humidity as you would lose a lot more moisture without a shell too. also i believe the chick does derive some benefit from the calcium content of the shell for bone growth.

maybe a partially shell-less egg? leave a ring around where the air cell will draw down to, and a bit on the point for anchor points for turning? incubated about 45 degrees or so and 'rolled' since the motion of the egg is important for the blood vessel development, and moving a water balloon is tricky at best. *hubby joined in on this, and suggested leaving most of the shell intact and just removing 'picture windows' around the body of the egg, while leaving enough shell behind as support structure.

and i personally would be interested in seeing something like this. I don't consider it 'unethical' to grow chickens with the intent to eat them, therefor it is not unethical to me to grow them to 'eat' the knowledge that is gained in their observation.

it would likely have to be a laboratory environment to make it feasible though.

 

[LilyD]

The only problem with this thinking is that egg shells have pores to let air in without that air the baby will die. Plastic doesn't do this. If there was a way that you could leave enough air space for air but not too much so that the membrane dries up it would probably work.

 

[cmom]

Has anybody ever tried this?

 

[Animalian]

If only you could get some of that semi-permeable plastic they use in science classes to cover it in.

 

[LilyD]

I think there is a poster that tried on you tube a few times I think the longest he made it was 4 days before the embryo died.

 

[ki4got]

i would think, second to actually removing parts (or all?) of the shell, the next hardest thing would be maintaining sterility...

well, actually sterility WHILE removing the shell, and then after... i've seen where they grew chicks totally shell-less from about 48 hours thru day 18 in basically a petri dish, but that didn't allow for any evaporation of fluids, and probably minimal on gas exchange as well. otherwise we might have heard more about growing them all the way out in such a way... but everything i could find was more for dissection and study purposes at various stages of embryology and morphology.

that makes sense to me, since 'drowned' chicks usually don't make it much beyond day 18 or 19. If i remember reading, this is because the fluid loaded tissues cause extra strain on the heart, and so basically they die of heart failure due to the extra stresses involved in hatching.

but if it dies of an infection then fluid loss is a moot point. also, with no rigid shell, the membrane is going to move a lot more, and possibly disrupt blood vessel growth needed for gas exchange.

all that said though, while it would require a number of variables to be exactly ON, i don't think it would be impossible. just highly improbable to result in a viable chick. (and probably costly to boot)