First time EVER - chick just hatched!!!

[JestersEye]

Quote:
I had to get rid of a few around the 2nd week that looked porous, and some had started to "sweat" through the shell. By that time, it was easier to see clear veining in the ones that were viable. I was a bit bummed to find blood rings in 3 eggs near the end of the incubation period. It's even harder to see them die when you know they HAD been developing at first.

Don't give up on any just yet, though, especially in brown eggs since it's harder to see veining through the shell. I have one egg, in particular, that must have a thicker shell... it's been VERY difficult to see much of anything through it, except a dark mass. I'm assuming its filled up with the chick, since it doesn't appear to be rotten. I just wish the chick would make its appearance already!

 

[Bluemoon420]

Yeah, I have few porous ones. None of them have sweated, but I'll keep a close eye on them. I marked those with a P, so I know which they are. My brown eggs were surprisingly easy to see thru. It's the green, and blue ones that are giving me the trouble. I know they aren't clear, so at least that's good

Bluemoon

 

[JestersEye]

I started getting worried (maybe intuition?) so I candled the remaining five eggs this morning. Things just didn't seem "right" with those eggs, so I marked them with a ? and put them back in the 'bator.

Since then, however, I came across a post about fully formed chicks drowning in their eggs; and it got me wondering about my eggs again.

I finally decided to carefully open them up and take a peek... All five chicks are dead!!! At least three of them seemed fully formed and ready to hatch, but the other two weren't quite as far along (still with large yolk sacs, etc.). All the chicks felt kinda slimy and the eggs had a lot of liquid in them. They might have drowned like the other post reported. I bet the incubator malfunction we had on day 8 did them in!

I guess it's lucky that we got any survivors at all, and am thankful for the five chicks we got out of the 18 eggs. I just feel badly for the poor babies who never made it out of their shells in time.

Oh well, at least the big Orp egg has pipped, and seems to be doing fine so far. Once it's out and dry, I will clean out the small 'bator and be done with our very first hatching experience (and my son's science fair project). I still have 24 eggs in the big 'bator, though... Wish me luck with that endeavor!