Has anyone tried this? Hatching egg without its shell.

[Peristeria]

www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hatching-a-chick-in-a-cup-can-you-do-it-and-how.74440

Hey yall! I was thinking about this and I thought it would be super cool to do this, but I can't test it out until my ladies start laying again. Has anyone tried this? If I do this for quail who have an incubation of 17 days, would waiting for 55 hours of incubation be too long? If anyone has tried it please let me know how it went!
Thanks!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I don't have the links handy but @MGG and @FortCluck both tried this. It wasn't successful but very educational just the same!

 

[FortCluck]

I don't have the links handy but @MGG and @FortCluck both tried this. It wasn't successful but very educational just the same!

@MGG had way more success than I did

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@MGG had way more success than I did

I'm thinking it must be one of those things where you really do need a sterile lab environment for it to work.

 

[MGG]

I'm thinking it must be one of those things where you really do need a sterile lab environment for it to work.

I think so too, and even then the results are pretty poor.
@Peristeria , I will never try it again. While it was cool and all in the beginning, and I got tons of amazing videos and pics, I killed 8 beautiful little babies in the process. I got very attached, and 3 made it to day 19. They would blink and kick, and one even started to peep to me. They were the most beautiful babies. But all died on either day 18 or 19. When a baby gets that far and dies, it's heartbreaking. I let them have life, and then took away their amazing protective shell, which killed them. I feel very responsible for each of their beautiful innocent lives. Please, if you want babies, leave them in their incredibly designed, perfect shell, and let them hatch how they were made to. You can read through my thread, it's very long, but I would not recommend trying it. It was one of the saddest things I've ever experienced. Once they got to day 19, it was like a death sentence. After the first 2 died I knew the last survivor (and my favorite) was going to die too. I stayed up all night talking to her. I had to watch her die. They all had yolk sac infections, even though I tried my hardest to keep everything sterile. It was very hard to watch. I still visit their little grave sometimes and apologize to them. It was the worst experience I've ever had in all of my years of bird-keeping. Please don't cause yourself the same pain I had to go through. Watching them hatch healthy and strong on their own is much better than being able to watch them grow without their shell.

 

[Peristeria]

I think so too, and even then the results are pretty poor.
@Peristeria , I will never try it again. While it was cool and all in the beginning, and I got tons of amazing videos and pics, I killed 8 beautiful little babies in the process. I got very attached, and 3 made it to day 19. They would blink and kick, and one even started to peep to me. They were the most beautiful babies. But all died on either day 18 or 19. When a baby gets that far and dies, it's heartbreaking. I let them have life, and then took away their amazing protective shell, which killed them. I feel very responsible for each of their beautiful innocent lives. Please, if you want babies, leave them in their incredibly designed, perfect shell, and let them hatch how they were made to. You can read through my thread, it's very long, but I would not recommend trying it. It was one of the saddest things I've ever experienced. Once they got to day 19, it was like a death sentence. After the first 2 died I knew the last survivor (and my favorite) was going to die too. I stayed up all night talking to her. I had to watch her die. They all had yolk sac infections, even though I tried my hardest to keep everything sterile. It was very hard to watch. I still visit their little grave sometimes and apologize to them. It was the worst experience I've ever had in all of my years of bird-keeping.

That is heartbreaking, now I don't think I will do it. Thanks for the advice. I think I will just let the internet do it and not me.

 

[MGG]

That is heartbreaking, now I don't think I will do it. Thanks for the advice. I think I will just let the internet do it and not me.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It wan an incredible experience and I learned a lot, but I won't ever sacrifice a chick's life for learning again. I completely understand wanting to try it, it surely would be incredible and amazing if it worked. I just can't possibly do it with my setup. It would have to be in a lab setting, and even then, 50% hatch rates are very rare for them.
I'm content to just candle now, and know they're safe in there. It's amazing how perfect that shell is at keeping out bacteria. It serves a huge role in the chicks' development. There are some really cool videos online of labs trying it. I'm not convinced they're all the same bird, or that they even actually hatched, but they have stages of development that aligned in growth with mine. And they have better quality footage. It's amazing what goes on in there.

 

[Peristeria]

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It wan an incredible experience and I learned a lot, but I won't ever sacrifice a chick's life for learning again. I completely understand wanting to try it, it surely would be incredible and amazing if it worked. I just can't possibly do it with my setup. It would have to be in a lab setting, and even then, 50% hatch rates are very rare for them.
I'm content to just candle now, and know they're safe in there. It's amazing how perfect that shell is at keeping out bacteria. It serves a huge role in the chicks' development. There are some really cool videos online of labs trying it. I'm not convinced they're all the same bird, or that they even actually hatched, but they have stages of development that aligned in growth with mine. And they have better quality footage. It's amazing what goes on in there.

No, don't feel bad about the bad news, it's the reason I asked. Although I was hoping it would be able to be done in a home environment without hurting them, it's fine that it can't. I love to candle so I have to restrain myself not to, haha. I agree that it is crazy how the shell does a fantastic job unless we (or my quail who like to crack them) mess it up. I always watch them hatch because it is just so cool to me that they go from rock to bird in 2 weeks. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[MGG]

No, don't feel bad about the bad news, it's the reason I asked. Although I was hoping it would be able to be done in a home environment without hurting them, it's fine that it can't. I love to candle so I have to restrain myself not to, haha. I agree that it is crazy how the shell does a fantastic job unless we (or my quail who like to crack them) mess it up. I always watch them hatch because it is just so cool to me that they go from rock to bird in 2 weeks. Thanks again for the advice!

I researched it to death too, but finally decided to just try. I candle daily, and it doesn't hurt a thing. If it did, I wouldn't do it. So go ahead and candle! Lol!
My quail crack their eggs too somehow! Which is crazy cuz they're so tough to crack, lol.
Rock!!! I love that! It is incredible. Life is an amazing thing.

 

[FortCluck]

I'm thinking it must be one of those things where you really do need a sterile lab environment for it to work.

Yeah because bacteria kills the chick