First Timer - Don’t know if my chicks are alive!

[Kvbutler716]

Hi all, I’m incubating for the first time and I’ve read a lot of the threads here but just need some experienced help on whether this egg is still viable. I think I’ve had lots of humidity and temp issues during the whole process because I just plugged in and went with assumption it was accurate. This is the only survivor that I know was alive and seemed fully developed prior to lock down. I’m not at day 25 and I don’t see internal pip or moment. I think I lost it but I also am not an expert on what I’m looking at. That’s where I’d like your help!

 

[SnackMeat]

No veins sorry. Dead.

You can also pop a hole in the air sac end of egg. If no chirping, or movement then further confirmation.

I tend to like to wait 12+ hours before deciding an egg is dead because I have had some eggs I was sure were dead wind up being fine. But you have zero veins. No veins, no movement, no heartbeat


You may not be up for it but you can take the chick out of the shell for a post mortem to figure out if it was positioned correctly-- was it's head/beak facing the air sac, or was it tucked in towards the body?

Was there any physical abnormalities obvious?

Did it look like it died earlier than you thought?

 

[SnackMeat]

I would also say the air sac looks a little high so probably too high humidity. And it could have also been too hot.

Incubators often have issues so it's always good to have a couple backup ways to measure temperature and to routinely check. A hygrometer for humidity is handy, but not as necessary. Aiming for 55% throughout is good as a minimum. Some people do well with dry hatching but I had a bad experience with it.

Another thing you can do is weigh your eggs before it goes in to start incubating. You can write the starting weight in grams on the eggs. You'd have to double check, but for ducks, I was reading you want to be losing something like 2.8% weight per week. I think chickens is higher because of shorter incubation. But you can measure every 5-7 days and then reevaluate humidity from there. Or simply follow an air sac calendar and change humidity based on the size of the air sac.

 

[nuthatched]

Looks dead, sorry

 

[Kvbutler716]

Thank you all for your replies. I feared it was gone but wanted some clear confirmation. I did go ahead and do post mortem. After popping a small hole in air sac and confirmed no movement or chirping. Chick was in right position, fully formed, but had not absorbed yolk sac fully and had a greenish discharge when interior membrane was punctured. So not sure what happened but guessing my heat or humidity was the culprit.