float test; I don't understand the results....

[Apriljc]

Both of my chicken eggs (overdue a bit) floated with just a bit of the egg out of the water. But...shouldn't they float a little anyways, since they have an airspace? Even if they are dead? Because, even if dead, they still have the air space that will make them float....

Huh? What do I made of that? I did not, however, see any wiggling. I candled the eggs also. They look just as they did early this morning.

 

[smokeykk]

I never did it before but yesterday I read something someone posted that said that if the egg dies it will sink to the bottom, as long as the egg is a low floater it should still be alive, I wouldn't throw them away!!!

 

[mitch324]

Often a float test is done when the shell is too dark to candle through. A live egg will float higher but more importantly it will wiggle and rock in the still water.

 

[Apriljc]

Well this whole thing is depressing and stressful. Not sure I will ever do this again.

 

[Brown Chicka Brown Cow]

I just did this yesterday day 22. I had one chick rock, cheep, pip on day 20 and hatch on day 21 with no signs of life from the other ones....with the float test 1 sunk to the bottom and the others bobbed still with a nickle to a quarter size amount of the egg out of the water but no wiggling....the one that sunk smelled slightly bad on the outsisde of the egg and was definately bad...did an eggtaupsy and had died about a week before day 21....still no sign of life from the others and the one chick is lonely

 

[jcfuente51]

Quote:
Hi april what are your results so far what day are you? i dont know i u saw my posts all my abys die they were full developed but day with out any pips..

 

[Apriljc]

Quote:
Hi april what are your results so far what day are you? i dont know i u saw my posts all my abys die they were full developed but day with out any pips..

I believe I had two internal pips from my two eggs. One chriped, so clearly it was getting air. The other's air sack is contoured to its body so it too likely pipped internal. But, 28 hours later, nothing. No chirps. No movement. Nothing. I candled a couple of times today, and the shadows and feathering I can see have not moved at all.

I guess its a big learning experience. A big dissappointment but a learning experience nonetheless.

 

[jcfuente51]

Quote:
Hi april what are your results so far what day are you? i dont know i u saw my posts all my abys die they were full developed but day with out any pips..

I believe I had two internal pips from my two eggs. One chriped, so clearly it was getting air. The other's air sack is contoured to its body so it too likely pipped internal. But, 28 hours later, nothing. No chirps. No movement. Nothing. I candled a couple of times today, and the shadows and feathering I can see have not moved at all.

I guess its a big learning experience. A big dissappointment but a learning experience nonetheless.

Hi April Ithink we had exact the same problem with our hatch TOO MUCH HUMIDITY!!! same thing happened to my babys the stupid higrometor was not calibrated and it was readding 35 lower thatn what it actually was so i tho i was hatching at 65% and it really was 100%

 

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Yeah, the float test is based on how much air is in the egg. Basically, if the egg sinks then it was most likely an early quitter, as the air cell stops growing when the chick stops developing. But it could also mean that the embryo is/was fully developed but your humidity was WAY too high and the egg didn't lose enough moisture. If your egg floats very high, like with half of the shell above water, then it's no good either, as there's far too much air cell.

If it floats just a little bit like you are describing then it is possibly okay, but not definitely. Like you say, if it developed fine all the way to day 20 or 21 then died, the air cell will be the right size to let it float just a bit, so the floating on its own isn't enough. If your egg is overdue (perhaps due to slightly low temps) but still alive and getting ready to hatch then you should see definite ripples in the water and maybe even the egg bouncing and rocking. Eggs won't wriggle till they're actually just about ready to hatch, so if you float a live egg on, say, day 19 or 20, you probably won't see any movement even though the chick is alive. It only works on chicks that are squirming around ready to pop.

When you say overdue a bit, what day are you on?

 

[weidnercharm]

My eggs are on day 22. Float test was fine but no movement. Regular candling showed air pocket and everything else too dark to tell. No pip, no chirp, no movement. I have lost hope for these.