How to tell if incubated “clears” were fertile to begin with?

[ladybrasa]

Hello all, I’m currently incubating another batch of eggs and am at day 13-14. I’ve got five I left in that are clear on candling. I will probably remove them in the next few days. I was wondering if there was a way to tell if they were fertilized to begin with? I do think shipping was rough on them. Had something like 6 early quitters and air cells are attached but have ‘shift’ pockets. (Saddled cells?) I know you can crack an egg and look for a blastodisc(sp?), but will this work for eggs that have been in the incubator already about 2 weeks?

It’s not really a big deal for me one way or another, just curious! Thanks!

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

You can brake them open in most cases and see if there was any starts of life.

 

[MGG]

Hello all, I’m currently incubating another batch of eggs and am at day 13-14. I’ve got five I left in that are clear on candling. I will probably remove them in the next few days. I was wondering if there was a way to tell if they were fertilized to begin with? I do think shipping was rough on them. Had something like 6 early quitters and air cells are attached but have ‘shift’ pockets. (Saddled cells?) I know you can crack an egg and look for a blastodisc(sp?), but will this work for eggs that have been in the incubator already about 2 weeks?

It’s not really a big deal for me one way or another, just curious! Thanks!

Like BirdsBeesTrees said, there will usually be some growth if they were fertile. The Blastoderm will not be visible after a week of incubation.

 

[LynnaePB]

It's hard with shipped eggs. I pretty much assume if there is no development whatsoever in a shipped egg it probably was fertilized but got too damaged to even start. From everything I've heard after incubating for a couple weeks you won't be able to confirm unfertilized eggs because the blastoderm degrades. Usually if the egg started to develop but then quit very early (days 1-2) the blastoderm will be visible somewhat and larger (at least the size of a penny or so). So you can confirm if an egg began to develop at all but not so much if it was fertilized to begin with once it has been incubated for a while.

I get clears quite often from shipped eggs. Almost always at least a few.

With eggs from my own flock that were stored properly if they don't even start I assume it was because the were not fertilized.

Editing to add though that I'm just repeating what I've been told. I don't fully understand the mechanism of how this works. When I eggtopsy a clear most of the time I either see something that looks very much like a blastodisc, or a see a slightly - significantly enlarged blastoderm that clearly tried to start developing but quit. Occasionally when the yolk is really watery (due to bacteria I'm guessing) I won't see anything and I can clearly understand why you couldn't gain any knowledge of whether an egg had been fertilized in that case.

 

[ladybrasa]

So I opened the five “clears” tonight. As far as I could tell, two were scrambled/had damaged yolks. Two had huge air cells (didn’t start that way) and the yolks were partially dried or something, kind of solidifying and was at a gel texture. Could that mean those two eggs were too porous? The fifth one appeared to have an intact yolk and the little amorphous tissue bits to the side, maybe a white speck? (I need to study egg anatomy a little more!) Maybe this one started as a few cells then quit, I don’t know.

 

[Tonyroo]

So all together the eggs you had are gone?

 

[333113]

So I opened the five “clears” tonight. As far as I could tell, two were scrambled/had damaged yolks. Two had huge air cells (didn’t start that way) and the yolks were partially dried or something, kind of solidifying and was at a gel texture. Could that mean those two eggs were too porous? The fifth one appeared to have an intact yolk and the little amorphous tissue bits to the side, maybe a white speck? (I need to study egg anatomy a little more!) Maybe this one started as a few cells then quit, I don’t know.

I think that sometimes the problem with shipping is the shaking and dropping, and sometimes it can be heat...if it gets warm enough the egg can start, but then if it chills off for too long it can't re-start when you put it in the incubator, which could account for some clears from shipping.

Tissue bits to the side, not on the yolk, could be "meat spots," little bits of tissue from the hen's reproductive tract, and not embryo parts.

When I ship eggs I don't wash them first, because the cuticle left in the process of being laid is good protection from moisture loss during shipping. I also try to ship eggs within a day or two if being laid. If you notice all the eggs have larger air cells than expected, they may be older eggs, or they may have had dry conditions during shipment, or they may have been washed. Sometimes it helps to start a batch like this with a bit higher humidity for the first part of the hatch, and re-adjust humidity as needed when you candle them the first time.

If just a few have larger air cells than expected, those might be older eggs or as you said, more porous.

 

[ladybrasa]

So all together the eggs you had are gone?

No, I have nine live going into lockdown. Out of 22. Crossing fingers!

 

[ladybrasa]

Tissue bits to the side, not on the yolk, could be "meat spots," little bits of tissue from the hen's reproductive tract, and not embryo parts.

Just googled quickly - I think it was the chalazae (sp?) I was seeing probably something I should know about by now.

If just a few have larger air cells than expected, those might be older eggs or as you said, more porous.

I was thinking too porous because all the eggs started with smallish or ‘reasonable’ sized air cells at arrival. I didn’t think the eggs were very old to start with. None of the others, live, clear, or quitter, had/have air cells as big.

Thanks for the info!