Help! Almost all of my eggs have detached air cells!!

[Revkimberlysflock]

I was scared to stop the turning because I read that turning is very important for these first days!

I had that to 8 out of 17 on my last incubation. I stopped my turning and stood them with the big end up to keep them from moving, while the rest of them turned. Most of my previous batch that had detached, never hatched . I left them that way in the incubator for 5 days. Every single one of them had righted themselves with their air pocket. At the end of the 5 days I laid them back down on their sides again. I got an extremely high hatch rate out of that batch and I'm convinced that it helped.

 

[Revkimberlysflock]

How did it go?

 

[Mohawkandmaggie]

Thank you so much! But also, How do I turn them?

I have had bobwhite quail eggs with the same sort of situation regarding the aircells, i have heard different things, i let mine sit for 2 days and then I put them in a roller egg turner (I have the Manna Pro Nuture Right incubator) and had a great hatch rate, just make sure the aircells are not jiggly or that they don't move when you rotate the egg while candling. The most important thing for the eggs in the beginning is rotation so i got them in the turner as soon as the aircells were stable. I will say some people have left them sitting upright for up to 7 days and had great results, you do what feels best!

 

[Debbie292d]

I have had this before in eggs. It might make hatching more difficult, but honestly I think your best shot is to just incubate as normal. The issues won't come from the displaced air cell impeding development or anything, it will just be harder for the chicks to find the air cell when trying to hatch. They may be in the wrong position to reach the air cell, and unfortunately this may cause some of them to die. There's nothing we can really do about that.
However, I will say that I have a surprising amount of chicks hatch without breaking the air cell at all! Sometimes they are breech babies and are able to pip without needing the air cell and they will be perfectly healthy chicks.
So basically my advice would be to incubate as normal, and nature will take its course. Don't stress too much about it, they are capable of hatching like this and you will get baby chicks! Good luck and congratulations, soon-to-be chicken parent!!

I honestly started out just incubating normally, meaning, after eggs sit 24 hours from unpacking, put them in the incubator and let it turn them all. I had horrible hatch rates this past year with shipped eggs, so I did some research and saw people suggesting to incubate normally, some said without turning for one day, and some said three days.

I tried three days with the last batch, and got no better hatch rate doing that vs letting them turn. And some with the air cells on the side hatched, whereas some that looked perfect did not.

It's just the luck of the draw with the USPS in my opinion, and this year was horrible compared to other years prior. I can sometimes hit 100% hatch rate on my own, used to get 70% hatch rate on shipped, and this year, if I got 50%, I was lucky.

My concern with not turning for so many days, that the embryo could stick to the side of the egg. That's why we rotate our own eggs we're saving to incubate. I'm certainly no expert, but I have tried various ways and have not found anything making an earth-shattering difference. I've settled on letting them sit in the incubator for one day without turning and hoping for the best.

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

Ok day 13, most of the air sacks look good but this one looks like it might be a detached air sack. The chick was moving in it. What can I be prepared for?

 

[Traffie Chickens]

Thanks everyone! These eggs are now currently on day 19!
I did nothing different for incubation, and I don’t know if I just got lucky, but out of ten eggs left, 8 of their air cells reattached! I am very happy about this! I just hope that hatching goes ok for the two eggs that still have their air cells detached.

 

[amg]

What happened at hatch?

 

[Ilovechickens2525]

What happened at hatch?

My ones with saddled air sacs didn’t hatch. I saw movement going into lockdown so I know they were still alive at that point. After the others hatched I waited 24 hours or so and then assisted, waited too long though. 2 were fully developed and I think might’ve had a chance if I’d intervened sooner.

Just candled my latest batch and only one saddled air sac this time but I marked it down. Ill help this one much sooner if it’s still moving during lockdown.

 

[Traffie Chickens]

What happened at hatch?

Oh ya! I totally forgot about this thread sorry! So sadly we had 6 fully developed chicks (yolk sacs absorbed) never hatch, 2 that quit, and we had four chicks hatch. The two eggs that still had detached air cells were fully developed ones, Im guessing that’s why they didn’t hatch out all the way, but I’m not sure. Either way thank you all for advice!

 

[Susan Skylark]

Just had this happen with a batch of shipped quail, out of 40 eggs I got 11 chicks, one I just found with a mild wry neck, urg! Half went into lockdown but just died in shell, too weak or deformed to hatch, did try helping a couple but they were deformed and died or put down. It was fifty fifty on the saddled air cells though, had normal eggs die and saddled hatch. I think it is more a sign of shipping trauma to the whole clutch and the damage to individual embryos can’t be determined until hatch, as many’s these guys were obviously deformed and not just unable to pierce the air cell. The shipping trauma damages the natal embryo and the bird doesn’t develop normally. See something similar with cold eggs (fridge or winter) but less dramatic, say 25% late embryonic death. Have also had 24/28 (including two mutants) hatch on shipped eggs, you never know! But when eggs look like this it would be best to keep anticipated hatching success rates on the low side, disappointing certainly but part of the process.