Has anyone tried the open-egg hatch method before? (HELP)

[ChickensAreGoat]

Welcome to BYC!

The first poster is correct about suffocation.

In addition to that, if your temperature readout is accurate.. that's too low.

Are you doing anything to provide any sort of turning?

I had just taken the lid off, so the temp and humidity were a bit low. It’s set to 95.5 temp and 50-55% humidity. It auto turns, but just rotates it, no real turning except when I take it out every day or 2. Thanks!

 

[Karilcole]

Hi everyone! Just so you know, this is my first time incubating eggs EVER, and just wondering if anyone has any tips! They have been in the incubator 7 days, I’m trying the open-egg method with a few of the eggs, and I can see a heartbeat in one (you can see a little red shape in the brown one.) the brown ones are heritage welsummers, the smaller blue ones are alchemist blues, and the olive colored ones are (yep you guessed it!) Olive Eggers! Thanks!

I haven’t posted about hatching my window eggs before because I’ve seen a few threads where the subject was a bit touchy for some. Since you’re asking if anyone has done it before I thought I’d chime in. I have successfully started and hatched 3 window eggs. I’m pretty sure I will never be able to do it again since I didn’t take very good notes & had absolutely no idea what I was doing (it was my 1st attempt). I decided to attempt it again & I'm on day 4 (I'm doing a few bantam eggs & 1 Brahma/silkie cross). I hatched 3 healthy Brahma chicks & they’re all still healthy, growing & the 2 ladies are laying. As for the ‘window’ cover, I used the clear waterproof wound care sheets cut to size. I incubated for almost 3 days before making the window. The membrane on 1 of the eggs came off (which was a complete accident) but definitely made a much better view. Temp was 99.5°-100°. I never turned them & I candled quite often. It was 2 days before lockdown when I realized they actually may hatch. I watched from the heartbeat to hatch. It was absolutely amazing to watch! Here are some photos. I have some fantastic videos also.

This 1st egg still had the membrane covering.

A face!

was when 1 internally pipped. (Had membrane covering)

1st to hatch.

All 3

This gal is 1 of the window chicks.

The reason I originally decided to try it because we don’t eat any of the eggs, they all go to my sister or fed back to the flock. Either way, they were going to be food.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I watched from the heartbeat to hatch. It was absolutely amazing to watch!

Thanks for posting this. You have given one good reason someone may want to try this. That must have been amazing to watch.

It is a shame you don't remember details to help @ChickensAreGoat My main concerns would be moisture loss and that it is open to bacteria. Basically the same concerns if you drop an egg and crack the shell.

There are certain guidelines we follow to try to improve the odds of an egg hatching. Opening an egg like this certainly violates some of those guidelines. Not following those guidelines does not automatically mean the eggs will not hatch but that the chance of them hatching decreases. Sometimes a lot, sometimes not much.

I can think of one recent poster who is experimenting with breaking a lot of our standard guidelines to see what that does to her hatches. She is purposely doing things wrong. I'm waiting to see her latest results but she is finding out that some of these don't make as much difference as commonly thought. They do make a difference so I think they are worth following. But sometimes you can have fun.

A few years back someone posted a study performed in Turkey about how often to turn eggs, if at all. Turning makes a difference, but that difference was less than I thought it would be. I still turn.

@ChickensAreGoat I do not have any specific suggestions for you. I've never tried anything like that. But I wish you luck and hope to see the results, good or bad.

 

[Penpal]

Please keep us updated.

 

[Squawkers]

I haven’t posted about hatching my window eggs before because I’ve seen a few threads where the subject was a bit touchy for some. Since you’re asking if anyone has done it before I thought I’d chime in. I have successfully started and hatched 3 window eggs. I’m pretty sure I will never be able to do it again since I didn’t take very good notes & had absolutely no idea what I was doing (it was my 1st attempt). I decided to attempt it again & I'm on day 4 (I'm doing a few bantam eggs & 1 Brahma/silkie cross). I hatched 3 healthy Brahma chicks & they’re all still healthy, growing & the 2 ladies are laying. As for the ‘window’ cover, I used the clear waterproof wound care sheets cut to size. I incubated for almost 3 days before making the window. The membrane on 1 of the eggs came off (which was a complete accident) but definitely made a much better view. Temp was 99.5°-100°. I never turned them & I candled quite often. It was 2 days before lockdown when I realized they actually may hatch. I watched from the heartbeat to hatch. It was absolutely amazing to watch! Here are some photos. I have some fantastic videos also.

This 1st egg still had the membrane covering.
View attachment 4002446

A face!
View attachment 4002447View attachment 4002448

was when 1 internally pipped. (Had membrane covering)
View attachment 4002449

1st to hatch.
View attachment 4002450

All 3
View attachment 4002451

This gal is 1 of the window chicks. View attachment 4002461

The reason I originally decided to try it because we don’t eat any of the eggs, they all go to my sister or fed back to the flock. Either way, they were going to be food.

Amazing!! I would love it if you shared the videos!

 

[ChickensAreGoat]

I tried this method because I saw a cool video of a guy doing this, and I’ve been asking ChatGPT about it, but no AI can provide info the way real people can lol. I have fixed the suffocation problem by using a bit of tape to stick the plastic to the egg, it’s just covering the top now. Thanks!

 

[ChickensAreGoat]

I haven’t posted about hatching my window eggs before because I’ve seen a few threads where the subject was a bit touchy for some. Since you’re asking if anyone has done it before I thought I’d chime in. I have successfully started and hatched 3 window eggs. I’m pretty sure I will never be able to do it again since I didn’t take very good notes & had absolutely no idea what I was doing (it was my 1st attempt). I decided to attempt it again & I'm on day 4 (I'm doing a few bantam eggs & 1 Brahma/silkie cross). I hatched 3 healthy Brahma chicks & they’re all still healthy, growing & the 2 ladies are laying. As for the ‘window’ cover, I used the clear waterproof wound care sheets cut to size. I incubated for almost 3 days before making the window. The membrane on 1 of the eggs came off (which was a complete accident) but definitely made a much better view. Temp was 99.5°-100°. I never turned them & I candled quite often. It was 2 days before lockdown when I realized they actually may hatch. I watched from the heartbeat to hatch. It was absolutely amazing to watch! Here are some photos. I have some fantastic videos also.

This 1st egg still had the membrane covering.
View attachment 4002446

A face!
View attachment 4002447View attachment 4002448

was when 1 internally pipped. (Had membrane covering)
View attachment 4002449

1st to hatch.
View attachment 4002450

All 3
View attachment 4002451

This gal is 1 of the window chicks. View attachment 4002461

The reason I originally decided to try it because we don’t eat any of the eggs, they all go to my sister or fed back to the flock. Either way, they were going to be food.

That’s awesome!

Thanks for posting this. You have given one good reason someone may want to try this. That must have been amazing to watch.

It is a shame you don't remember details to help @ChickensAreGoat My main concerns would be moisture loss and that it is open to bacteria. Basically the same concerns if you drop an egg and crack the shell.

There are certain guidelines we follow to try to improve the odds of an egg hatching. Opening an egg like this certainly violates some of those guidelines. Not following those guidelines does not automatically mean the eggs will not hatch but that the chance of them hatching decreases. Sometimes a lot, sometimes not much.

I can think of one recent poster who is experimenting with breaking a lot of our standard guidelines to see what that does to her hatches. She is purposely doing things wrong. I'm waiting to see her latest results but she is finding out that some of these don't make as much difference as commonly thought. They do make a difference so I think they are worth following. But sometimes you can have fun.

A few years back someone posted a study performed in Turkey about how often to turn eggs, if at all. Turning makes a difference, but that difference was less than I thought it would be. I still turn.

@ChickensAreGoat I do not have any specific suggestions for you. I've never tried anything like that. But I wish you luck and hope to see the results, good or bad.

Yeah, not very familiar with guidelines
lol. I knew it would lessen the chance of survival, but I am trying it because it’s so cool to be able to see the chick developing. It’s day 7, and there is a heartbeat, but almost no visible blood vessels yet, so I don’t know how it will turn out. I’ll try to keep everyone updated though, Thanks!

 

[ChickensAreGoat]

I haven’t posted about hatching my window eggs before because I’ve seen a few threads where the subject was a bit touchy for some. Since you’re asking if anyone has done it before I thought I’d chime in. I have successfully started and hatched 3 window eggs. I’m pretty sure I will never be able to do it again since I didn’t take very good notes & had absolutely no idea what I was doing (it was my 1st attempt). I decided to attempt it again & I'm on day 4 (I'm doing a few bantam eggs & 1 Brahma/silkie cross). I hatched 3 healthy Brahma chicks & they’re all still healthy, growing & the 2 ladies are laying. As for the ‘window’ cover, I used the clear waterproof wound care sheets cut to size. I incubated for almost 3 days before making the window. The membrane on 1 of the eggs came off (which was a complete accident) but definitely made a much better view. Temp was 99.5°-100°. I never turned them & I candled quite often. It was 2 days before lockdown when I realized they actually may hatch. I watched from the heartbeat to hatch. It was absolutely amazing to watch! Here are some photos. I have some fantastic videos also.

This 1st egg still had the membrane covering.
View attachment 4002446

A face!
View attachment 4002447View attachment 4002448

was when 1 internally pipped. (Had membrane covering)
View attachment 4002449

1st to hatch.
View attachment 4002450

All 3
View attachment 4002451

This gal is 1 of the window chicks. View attachment 4002461

The reason I originally decided to try it because we don’t eat any of the eggs, they all go to my sister or fed back to the flock. Either way, they were going to be food.

That’s so awesome! Thanks so much for sharing, and would love to see the videos! They look really healthy as well! How did it look when you first saw the heartbeat? I just saw it for the first time yesterday, and there’s not really any visible blood vessels, just little tiny red lines. Thanks again!

 

[Susan Skylark]

There’s a cool video (google chick in a cup) that you can watch a chick develop in a plastic drinking cup from small embryo to hatch (you’ll need supplemental oxygen to repeat that feat!). It it amazing, and this looks like a similar thing, just less prone to disaster, curious to see how it goes! Glad to see you are willing to break a few eggs to make an omelette!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

It’s set to 95.5 temp

This is too low and will delay development and expected hatching day. It should be around 99.5 in forced air conditions and 101.5-102 under still air conditions. You can also see temp noted in the other posters' experience that did the successful open window hatching and I quoted it for example..

Temp was 99.5°-100°.

Daily development chart included, from google images.. for consideration/comparison reference.. (they look more like they might be break outs/eggtopsy or maybe petree dish grown than "open window" to me).

And one for what it may look like when candling from the outside/standard view..

Happy hatching!