Eggs Pipping in the Wrong Places?

[Chicken_overlord]

Hello!

I was excited to hear cheeping from my incubator this morning. As I looked closer however, multiple eggs have either pipped on the small end of the egg or in the middle of the egg. This is my first time incubating eggs. They incubated on their sides with the big end up the entire term of the incubation.

Humidity ranged from 20%-40% from days 1-18 with it now at 69% for lockdown. Temp has been a consistant 100F. It did go down to about 99.3F when I removed the turners. It was down for about half a day before I adjusted the incubator to get it back up to 100F, which is where it is now.

Will they hatch okay? Clearly with so many of them pipping in the wrong spot I did something wrong so any suggestions there would also be helpful.

Thank you!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!

Were these shipped eggs or your own?

It sounds to me you're doing everything right. I would let things play out and see what they do. Maybe they'll be fine.

If after they pip, 24 hours goes by and they aren't out, I'd consider helping. Here's a great article that explains in depth:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/guide-to-assisted-hatching-for-all-poultry.72886/

Wishing you a great hatch!

 

[Chicken_overlord]

Thank you for the help and resource! The welsummer eggs are from my own flock while the Silverudd's blue eggs (green) are from a local breeder, though they did have to travel in the car for two hours, but we padded them really good and we didn't observe any detached aircells. I let them sit for 24 hours big end up before sticking them in the incubator.

 

[Airyaman]

That looks like the Maticoopx 30. How did you position the eggs in the turners?

 

[Chicken_overlord]

That looks like the Maticoopx 30. How did you position the eggs in the turners?

It is a Maticoopx 30. I had them on their sides and positioned them so that the small end was angled down as much as possible. Hard to see, but here's a picture from day 7.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Thanks for the photo of the turners. I'm not familiar with that incubator and had no idea the turners looked like that. I do not think your problem is the turners.

All you can do at this point is let the hatch play out. Lots of eggs that pip on that end hatch. It's not "ideal" or what they are "supposed to do" but Mother Nature isn't usually that inflexible. They have a decent chance. But do read Debbie's article.

With that many pipping on that end the only thing I can think about is how were they stored before incubation started? I agree, after incubation started you did everything correctly. Were they stored pointy side up before incubation started? I can't think of anything else and even that seems like it should not have caused that much of a difference.

 

[Chicken_overlord]

I made sure to store them pointy end down before I started incubation. I have no idea how the breeder was storing them before I received them, but she also had them pointy end down in their cartons when I received them so I assume she was also storing them correctly. Next time I may just stuff them all in the same turner pointy end down and see if that helps.

Thank you for the replies and help in this matter! I'm definitely going to be stressed for the next day or so while they hatch.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Shipped eggs or a faulty turner could definitely cause issues but I think you’ve ruled that out, another theory I’ve been playing with is embryonic malformation, I’ve hatched a total of 5 backward pipped eggs (yes, a huge number) of those, 1 died in shell, three were deformed, and one was normal. So is it being backwards that causes the deformity or the deformity that causes being backwards or both and? Not that having 25% of your chicks with birth defects is a better problem to have! In mammals it is both and, the fetus needs to move into position but being in the wrong position can also cause congenital defects while congenital defects can also keep the fetus from getting into position. Let us know how your hatch goes!

 

[Chicken_overlord]

Thank you, that could be too. It would be unfortunate if so many were malformed as more have pipped on the wrong side than not. 8 have pipped and only 2 have pipped on the correct end. I'm still waiting for 5 others to pip, but I'm not concerned as it's only day 20.

I haven't figured out where I went wrong yet, but I clearly made a mistake somewhere. I have noticed a lot of the eggs are more oval than egg shaped so I'm curious if they didn't have enough of a downward angle to the small end to get themselves positioned in the right spot. Either way, I'll definitely try small end straight down in the turners for next hatch and fingers crossed these babies hatch out okay.

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you, that could be too. It would be unfortunate if so many were malformed as more have pipped on the wrong side than not. 8 have pipped and only 2 have pipped on the correct end. I'm still waiting for 5 others to pip, but I'm not concerned as it's only day 20.

I haven't figured out where I went wrong yet, but I clearly made a mistake somewhere. I have noticed a lot of the eggs are more oval than egg shaped so I'm curious if they didn't have enough of a downward angle to the small end to get themselves positioned in the right spot. Either way, I'll definitely try small end straight down in the turners for next hatch and fingers crossed these babies hatch out okay.

Many have flatbed incubators, such as the NR360, where the eggs lay on their sides. A mother hen has her eggs usually on their sides. I do not think this has anything to do with their angles.

That said, your egg racks look similar to mine (Brinsea). I stand mine in there next to each other, all pointy end down. Eight eggs fit in a rack, but when it's not full, the rotating will knock one or two over to their side. I am adamant about not opening my incubators unless out of necessity, such as candling seven days in and prior to lockdown, so I leave them be. They all hatch.

Have you been able to determine if the weird end pippers are all from the same source?

I do not think this is a mistake you made. The only thing is about your settings was when you said the humidity was 20F to 40F. Humidity is an average, so if it averaged, it was at 30F days 0-18. Many successfully dry hatch around that level of humidity. I prefer to average 45F, and a temp of 99.5F

Have you ever calibrated your incubator with an independent hygrometer/thermometer? It could be your temp or humidity reading is off on the incubator. Many of us get the Govee brand on Amazon as they are Bluetooth or WiFi, whichever you choose, and have a phone app to graph your incubator settings on it. I have several of those for the incubators and brooders.

I've also come across these that someone had posted and just got them yesterday. They are spot on.