Float Testing, Checking Egg Viability For Late Or Overdue Hatching

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

for you bargain! Let us know how it turns out!

 

[TarHeelBlue]

WOW this is the first time I have heard of this - thanks so much. I am going to print this out and put in near my bator. If my guys don't hatch out by Saturday, in the water they go.

 

[deerman]

Never did the test on incubated eggs........But have to test how old eggs are.....very old eggs will float also, I even busted a guy I got eggs from off of ebay.....some of his eggs floated thats like egg month old.

Can see if egg moves ,it has a live chick. not sure all floater are good...but hey even if not those are the keepers, for sure the sinker would be bad. I wouldn't worry about it hurting the chicks thought.

But I place unhatch eggs in bottom of a extra incubator long past hatch date.

Looks like a good test to remove bad eggs.

 

[dmiravalle]

So do the sinkers literally sink all the way down on this test? How long overdue can chicks go?

 

[JJMR794]

Yes In Most Cases They Sink To The Bottom, Many May Stand Up On End On The Bottom... Depends On How Much Or Little Air The Air Cell Contains. How Long Overdue? I Could Not Definitively Answer This As I Really Havent Kept Track. Also If Your Bator Temps Are Low Then The Chick Development Is Delayed,they May Be Overdue By Our Dates And Plans But Still Cooking Due To Slower Development. A Simple Degree In Temperature Can Greatly Influence Hatch Date Either Way, Early Or Late, In My Experience By As Much As 48 Hrs Possibly Even More?

 

[dmiravalle]

They were due to hatch on Sunday morning. We had two hatch out on Saturday night. I don't hear any peeping or see any movement. My incubator has been at 99.5 pretty consistantely and humity was at 35% - 40% and then up to 65%-70% since lock down. All but one floated yesterday with about 15% above the water, and one was 1/2 floating, it was an egg I candled and guessed unfertile. I tried candling again, but to be honest, I basically suck and cannot tell anything.

 

[JJMR794]

Many Things Can Cause Staggered Hatches, Old Eggs, Mishandling In Shipping, Inconsistant Bators, Etc. Also I Have Had Packages X Rayed And When That Happens All Bets Are Off... You May Only Get A Couple Survive And Hatch Successfully.. Kind Of Depends On Time And Radiation Amounts The Embryos Were Exposed To. Then There's The Weather... So Many Variables Involced In This Type Of Equation Its Often Difficult To Know For Sure

 

[JJMR794]

When You Float Tested Were Any Moving?

 

[dmiravalle]

No none were moving. We went and bought a higher powered light yesterday. I candled the eggs. I pulled out 7 and we did eggtopsy on them. 3 were unfertile - 1 died at about day 13 and the other three died at day 8. When I floated these all but one floated at the 15% level. I have 5 left, when those where candled, no movement, looks like a fully developed chick and there is still some red viens we can see, so I put those back in yesterday. But nothing this morning, no movement. I am pretty sure they are dead, but they don't stink yet. How much longer should I give these ones? Oh and these 5 floated at 15% as well.

 

[JJMR794]

If The Eggs Developed Far Enough Before Embryo Death They Will Float, Also As Time Goes On And The Embryo Itself Succumbs To Decomposition They Will Float Very High (becareful With These As They Are Rotten Eggs Bombs And Go Off Rather Easily In Some Cases)

If Your Date Of Confinement (hatch Date) Was Sunday And They Are Not Moving When Float Tested On Weds Or Thurs I'd Say They Are Likely Done.