Eggtopsy: What happened to my egg? {Graphic Pictures}

[silkiechicken]

They were close then. If the rest hatched on time, happy and healthy, you still did good!

 

[Love my chicks]

Hi I was wondering what causes a chick to not pip internally?

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Interesting thread.

I just had a batch of 17 Ameraucana eggs finish. All went to lockdown. Eight hatched. Two pipped, started zipping, and stayed there for nearly two days before I helped them out. The other seven I eggtopsied, albeit poorly. Five were fully formed chicks that never pipped internally. One looked to have made it about 2/3 through development. The last was one that had started development, and quit early. It was rather foul when opened, although did not explode.

Is it possible that the early quitter contaminated the rest? Would spacing them out in the incubator decrease the risk of such contamination if that's the case? Or is there something else that I should have noted or looked for?

Thanks for any help anyone has.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

In my experience... if your eggs are heavily soiled you get more early deaths. So keep your nest boxes full of nice clean bedding material. It is true it is best to NOT wash hatching eggs as it washes away the protective bloom, but better to wash a very soiled egg in hot water than to set it and lose it from bacteria, or worse lose it to bacteria and have it explode all over your incubator.

As long as an egg doesn't go completely rotten and explode IN the incubator your other eggs should be fine even if one is a dud. You can usually take a whiff as you open the incubator and tell if there's a bad one in there, then sniff one egg at a time until you find it. Sometimes they start having crusty bubbles seep through the shell and are easy to spot. Also if you will candle at 10 days and remove the clear ones they will not be suspected stink bombs later.

From my research a lot of late quitters are caused by one of two things- too much temperature fluctuation during incubation (make sure your incubator is away from windows, exterior walls, and drafts) and vitamin deficiencies in the parent stock. I know one time I bought two dozen hatching eggs, about 20 made it to lockdown, but only ONE hatched. I'm assuming the seller had deficiency problems in the flocks because everything went exactly right during the incubation, and my other eggs in the same batch had great hatch rates. Some people feel that it is better to pen your flock and control their diet exactly for breeding purposes than to free range them and chance they are missing something in their diet. Humidity CAN also be a cause, but if your temperature is steady even humidity swings should be tolerable. One last possibility is that your stock is too closely related- too much inbreeding can cause fertility and hatching problems- but it would require multiple generations of sibling matings, etc.

This is based on my limited experience and some basic internet research. Hope it helps you!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Thanks! These were shipped eggs, with minimal to no soiling. I know the breeder has stock from several sources, so inbreeding shouldn't be a problem, nor diet...this one is fairly fanatic about her birds. At least I now know that the likelihood of the one egg influencing the others is not high. I have no way to tell if one is rotten unless it's actually leaking, as I have no sense of smell, so this has been a worry.

I'll continue to look at other variables as well. Some information suggested shipped eggs developing larger chicks that can't pip properly due to weakened or stretched membranes. I had no true point of comparison on chick size, though.

So many possibilities! I'd like to reduce them for future hatches. I appreciate your thoughts and additional information to consider!

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Well the fact that they were shipped eggs explains a lot. I have a good percentage of my shipped eggs that make it to the last few days and then just... die. The shipping is really hard on them for some reason. If you have good faith in your incubator and thermometer, then it is just one of those things you can't control. Hope you have a better hatch next time!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Well the fact that they were shipped eggs explains a lot.  I have a good percentage of my shipped eggs that make it to the last few days and then just... die.  The shipping is really hard on them for some reason.  If you have good faith in your incubator and thermometer, then it is just one of those things you can't control.  Hope you have a better hatch next time!

That helps even more... To see that's not unusual with shipped eggs. I'll check out my incubator and hatcher and make sure they're on target. I appreciate your responses. You've been very kind, and very helpful.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Your welcome, anytime. I know how helpful people were here on BYC when I was brand new, too.

FYI- 50% hatch on shipped eggs is considered a really good hatch. So consider yourself fortunate!

 

[Hollowoakfarm]

Yes, 50% is really good on shipped, but I normally don't have developed chicks fail to hatch. Usually it's scrambled eggs or wonky air cells or something. But, it's all a learning curve!

 

[wabbit1964]

Thank you for the info... I did my first eggtopsy today will update with pics/data later... right now my stomach is still too queasy to continue thinking about it... Your info in this article was helpful in understanding.