Eggtopsy- what does this mean?

[Minky]

I Just completed my first hatch in a borrowed "Little giant". I think it went ok, out of 44 eggs I got 32 chicks. I did an eggtopsy on my 9 remaining eggs that did not pip or zip. (after leaving them in until day 25)..... Three stopped developing sometime after chick started forming (there was a lot of goo...) but I had 6 fully formed chicks left inside eggs. In those eggs, there were no pips, chicks were fully formed, except all had yolk sac on their bellies.

Can anyone tell me what this means? Was it something I did? 5 were from same lady (Marans) and 1 from another lady who's other 17 eggs all hatched. (Olive Eggers).

Thanks

 

[MysteryChicken]

I Just completed my first hatch in a borrowed "Little giant". I think it went ok, out of 44 eggs I got 32 chicks. I did an eggtopsy on my 9 remaining eggs that did not pip or zip. (after leaving them in until day 25)..... Three stopped developing sometime after chick started forming (there was a lot of goo...) but I had 6 fully formed chicks left inside eggs. In those eggs, there were no pips, chicks were fully formed, except all had yolk sac on their bellies.

Can anyone tell me what this means? Was it something I did? 5 were from same lady (Marans) and 1 from another lady who's other 17 eggs all hatched. (Olive Eggers).

Thanks

Marans have extra hard shell, so they probably couldn't pip.

The others most likely quit early.

 

[Punkybrewster]

Marans hatch better for me running around 30% humidity because of darker/ thicker shells. The darker the shells are the harder to lose the moisture necessary to have good air cells. This is my observation.

 

[Minky]

Marans have extra hard shell, so they probably couldn't pip.

The others most likely quit early.

So how shall I help these Marans out in the future? Shall I crack them open on day 21?

 

[Minky]

Marans hatch better for me running around 30% humidity because of darker/ thicker shells. The darker the shells are the harder to lose the moisture necessary to have good air cells. This is my observation.

Wow- 30% even after day 18? The lowest humidity I can achieve is 47/48%. This is with a completely dry incubator. How can I get it drier? I suppose I should therefore hatch maran on their own? .Any more details would be very helpful, pretty please. I paid a lot of $ for those eggs.. :-(

 

[MysteryChicken]

So how shall I help these Marans out in the future? Shall I crack them open on day 21?

You can always make a safety hole in the fat end of the egg where the air cell would be.

 

[Minky]

You can always make a safety hole in the fat end of the egg where the air cell would be.

Like with a pin? A breathing hole? or bigger, like pea sized?

 

[MysteryChicken]

Like with a pin? A breathing hole? or bigger, like pea sized?

I use a thumb tack, & scratch at the shell until I get it deep enough to chip it off. I also remove a small portion of the outer membrane.