Expired near to hatch chick - what went wrong (WARNING - GRAPHIC PICS)

[kaffleck]

Hiya,

I open up an unhatched egg today (nearing the end of day 22) and this is what I saw. It's my first attempt at hatching and I want to see if there's anything I can do to increase my hatch rate (although it turns out only 2 eggs were viable so 1 out of 2 isn't that bad!). Now I know pretty much nothing about this stuff and really want to learn so some of my questions may seem dumb but please bare with me

.

Chicky hadn't pipped. Can anyone have a guess at what day it would have been at? The one successful hatch was at day 20 and I think this one was already gone by then as I didn't hear any peeping and the live one was making a racket.

What is that white fat like substance on the left of pic one?

Is that the intestines I'm seeing that it looks like the chick is cuddling with it's feet?

Anything else anyone can tell me as to why it didn't make it? Many thanks in advance.

I don't really want to take it out the membrane but will if it helps.

 

[texascowboy1979]

I had that happen to me tooo... it happend to my pheasants... Its kinda depressing when you 1st get started.. but im sure in time we will figure it out. I wish I could be of more help... but Im a bit new at this too...

 

[muzzles&nuzzles]

It is hard to tell. Usually with banties the yolk will be down there. The membrane doesn't look dried out so that probably wasn't the reason.
Did you have extreme temp spikes? It could always be a genetic defect. I just lost a blue silkie but it had absorbed its yolk. I think it was too dry so it couldn't turn to pip.
You have to take the membrane off and the spread the chick out and see it is the yolk at the bottom. I don't know that I have seen that fat like substance before. Someone else might know. Well, your chances are high because there are a jillion members here. Someone has to know.

I would rather have one just NOT develop than quit that late indevelopment. Sorry you lost this one.

 

[kaffleck]

Temp was fine all the way through. I was unsure about humidity though as it was just guesswork (1 well or 2

). That fatty white substance is a bit like the fat you get on a chicken before sticking it in the oven (shop bought anyway - haven't cooked a fresh one to date)! I really don't fancy peeling off the membrane. I've no gloves and the feel is just yucky

 

[Akane]

The white is chalaze. It just keeps things connected in the egg. The yolk is down by the feet and not absorbed. If one hatched on day 20 it could be a temperature issue since your temps were possibly a bit too high. It's hard to tell when only one chick hatches if there was something wrong or if it was just an odd chick. The chick that died could also have just had something wrong with it that didn't kill it until it went to absorb the yolk. Sometimes for various reasons chicks can't absorb the yolk. All the ones I've had at least managed to break the membrane first before dying of those problems though. It could have been too low of humidity at the time the chick needed to break the membrane. They break the membrane about 24hrs before they pip the shell and then they can take hours to finish absorbing the yolk and fully hatch so we don't know if the humidity was ok 2 days ago or not. We can only see that the membrane is not dry when you opened the egg. The humidity also spikes when a chick hatches. Which is actually another possible cause. If the humidity was borderline too high and a chick started to hatch early it could have resulted in too much humidity for the one that wasn't that far along yet.

This is why for my first few hatches I recorded the humidity and temperature every time I turned the eggs and several times a day from when I stopped turning until they hatched. That way when one died I could compare it to pics online to figure out exactly when it died and then go look at my records to see what happened at that time. It's near impossible to tell what killed them just by looking at them dead unless there is obviously something wrong.

 

[kaffleck]

Thanks Akane. Looking at the incubator at the time the live chick hatched I would say that the humidity was probably too high as it was full of condensation and the chick never fully fluffed up until it went into the brooder.
I was about to say that the eggs were left at room temp for a night before setting, but the chick that hatched early was from an egg laid and set on the same day.
Could just be bad luck and genetics too.
I'll have another go with the incubator and hope for better luck this time. I don't think there's room in there for a humidity gauge unfortunately.

 

[andrea98]

i had 6 eggs in my lg & i found this time i set 24 eggs & the temp & humidity is staying at an even range ..last time it was all over the place down down to 97 & up to 102. i was ready to run the dang thing over with the car!!!!

 

[muzzles&nuzzles]

I've had and incubator with temps all over. That's why I don't have one now. I just stick the eggs under the broodies. I know there are advantages to the incubator but I was ready to throw it out the window.

 

[2txmedics]

Andrea...hatching??? Im still in the middle of mine...LG...so far so good!!!!