Eggtopsy (GRAPHIC)

[chook27]

Here is a picture of one of my baby chicks. I opened the egg on day 25 and there was no life in it. When do you think development stopped and is there anything obvious that tells you why it passed away?

Thanks. RIP baby chick.

 

[Habibs Hens]

looks fully grown like day 18

what breed was it

could it be a lethal gene?

 

[aseelforsale]

Its not full grown as it still has the membrane still stuck to it, i had the same situation it could be that the hen let it cool down too much and the chick died due to lack of hear? I would predict the chick being 2-3 days away from being hatched

 

[bugglesmommy]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8neZDScBg...gvsraPfBQ/s1600/chick_embryo_development1.jpg

Here is a chart. I would say day 17-18. There is no obvious cause of death in the pic. There are a lot of things that could have gone wrong.

 

[chook27]

It's either a cream crested leg bar or a cross thereof. Thanks for all the input so far. This is a real shame as this was my only fertilized egg that did no hatch. Still got two others that might not be 100%, but at least they hatched. I had never seen any movement with this one at all. It was in an incubator, so no sudden or prolonged temperature drop.

 

[Habibs Hens]

It's either a cream crested leg bar or a cross thereof. Thanks for all the input so far. This is a real shame as this was my only fertilized egg that did no hatch. Still got two others that might not be 100%, but at least they hatched. I had never seen any movement with this one at all. It was in an incubator, so no sudden or prolonged temperature drop.

maybe a cross not a pure CLB

sorry for your loss

 

[tslaven]

Chook, I had the same thing today. I got 13 hatched chicks out of 21 eggs. When I did eggtopsies 7 were not even fertile and one was a perfectly formed but dead chick. I thought maybe it drowned when it tried to pip. Could that be what happened to yours? So sad.

 

[Mnredjunglefowl]

did u let the female incubate her own egg or did u incubate it......i recently just hatch some rjf chick n only 2 made it out n the female left the other egg when i open the egg the chick was ready to come out already but it gotten cold so they didnt

 

[lavenderorpgirl]

No brave enough to eggtopsy. One and only one I ever opened had the yolk sack till WAY intact at like day 25...never again...I don't wanna know.

 

[chook27]

@Habibs Hens
Thanks for your reply. Are you an expert at CLB and other breeds? Here's a pic of the rest of the chicks. The three darker ones are from the same lot of eggs as the dead chick. I presumed the darker ones are the purer bred ones, but I am clueless! I was going on the type/colour of egg they came out of. By the end of the day they are most probably all crosses. This was our first time incubating and it was just to get a few more laying hens and more some for the children, so they could see what is actually happening. Any advise/guesses on breeds would be very much appreciated! Also is there an easy way to sex these kinds of chicks? Thanks.



The three yellow ones are from different eggs, no clues at all what they are. The two brownish ones and the black one are the same lot of green eggs. The brown ones are have darker brown stripes down their backs, while the black one has lighter coloured stripes. Also very good for us, the brown chicks both had a spot on their heads, a white one on one and the black one on the other! An easy way for the kids to tell them apart.


@tslaven
Yes possibly. Poor thing. However I never saw any movement with it ever. Actually I saw very little movement with all of them.

@Mnredjunglefowl
No, they were in the incubator, so did not get cold.

@lavenderorpgirl
Really sorry to hear. I know I made the mistake of messing with the other eggs (the two yellow chicks) and wish I hadn't, but you just live and learn. As the above egg, I was reasonably confident as the last chick from the same lot of eggs had hatched more than 4 days ago. Also I had candled it several times and no movement at all and then I also just broke a tiny whole into the air sack and observed. Seeing no movement I prodded it and still nothing. Poor little baby, but it's just one of those things.
But I got to agree, I will never mess with the eggs again. I think next time I will leave well alone until at least day 27 or so.

If anybody can give me more info on chicks, that would be great. Otherwise I might go and start a thread in the raising chicks section.