I cracked open an alive egg!!!

[Jazmelina]

This is my first time incubating…i had some eggs from my flock that I wanted to hatch out, and all of them looked great so far!! About 8 eggs. I candled them on day 5 and two of them looked like they had that blood ring around it and we’re just shadows without veins, but like I said earlier… I’m very new at this and I just assumed they were bad so I took them out, I was scared to have spoiled eggs in there since I’ve read some stories about them exploding in incubators. But anyways, I took them out in a baggy and cracked them open to see what was inside and one for sure was dead since it was just runny yolk and no blood or anything like that. But when I cracked open the other one, it had blood and veins and there was a developing chick inside!! I felt so bad that I just instantly threw it away into the garbage and I couldn’t even bring myself to look at it.
I didn’t see it move or anything like that, but I’m pretty sure it was alive since it had veins. I’m just so disappointed I didn’t see them move in the candler. It literally just looked like a shadow without veins and a ring but i don’t know anymore.
Maybe my candler isn’t bright enough? Im not too sure, I just needed a place to type this out.
Thanks for reading.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

We have all made our mistakes when first starting out. I have found that a smaller LED flashlight works the best for candling. As for the ring, new hatchers can confuse the growing Chorion for a blood ring. For the movement, I do not base anything off of movement. Get a good LED flashlight so you can see the veins accurately. Developing embryos do not move constantly. Depending on the egg shell thickness and color it can make it even more difficult to see any movement.

Picture below of Chorion for example (Google image, not mine):

 

[Jazmelina]

We have all made our mistakes when first starting out. I have found that a smaller LED flashlight works the best for candling. As for the ring, new hatchers can confuse the growing Chorion for a blood ring. For the movement, I do not base anything off of movement. Get a good LED flashlight so you can see the veins accurately. Developing embryos do not move constantly. Depending on the egg shell thickness and color it can make it even more difficult to see any movement.

Picture below of Chorion for example (Google image, not mine):
View attachment 3464839

Thank you. I really appreciate this

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Thank you. I really appreciate this

Happy to help and make sure that you don’t beat yourself up over it. I’m pretty sure if they did a poll on here 99% of us would admit that we have made mistakes with incubation and even after incubating for years I still find myself learning a better way to do things.

 

[Bigandlittles]

Definitely don’t hate yourself for it. Out of my last hatch I only had 6 out of 21 hatch. That is horrible. Try weighing your eggs to monitor growth. An egg will lose weight when they are alive and doing ok. I havnt done this but will surly do it next time so I’m not incubating dead eggs the whole time. We live, make mistakes and come out better in the end because we learned something. I’m not sure how much an egg is supposed to lose while incubating but I’m sure these wonderful people on here know.

 

[Ms Biddy]

Regarding your fear of spoiled eggs, it takes a while for this to happen and my understanding is that you can smell them way before they become a risk of exploding. So if you're concerned, give the eggs a good sniff. In many years of incubating, I've never had a spoiled or exploding egg. Sorry you had a bad experience though. I generally don't crack open the eggs that fail. I don't know why, but it makes me feel a little squeamish and I'm not even a squeamish person.

 

[Coop-de-doop]

We have all made our mistakes when first starting out. I have found that a smaller LED flashlight works the best for candling. As for the ring, new hatchers can confuse the growing Chorion for a blood ring. For the movement, I do not base anything off of movement. Get a good LED flashlight so you can see the veins accurately. Developing embryos do not move constantly. Depending on the egg shell thickness and color it can make it even more difficult to see any movement.

Picture below of Chorion for example (Google image, not mine):
View attachment 3464839

Is this a blood ring or chorion? I’m new to hatching and thought this was a blood ring, but I don’t want to take it out until someone confirms.

 

[RisingPhoenixFarms]

Is this a blood ring or chorion? I’m new to hatching and thought this was a blood ring, but I don’t want to take it out until someone confirms.

I can't answer this for you as i'm wanting a similar answer so i thought i'd reply to bump the post and get it back on peoples radars!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Is this a blood ring or chorion? I’m new to hatching and thought this was a blood ring, but I don’t want to take it out until someone confirms.

Can you get a picture of the egg turned so the side with the embryo and veins is facing towards the camera?

 

[affacat]

I am ridiculous in the other direction. I wait to see the maple syrup looking leak before I remove eggs. I have such a hard time tossing them