I cracked what appeared to be a failed egg and the embryos was still alive

[FowlWitch]

I am definitely the morbidly curious type...

*Watches video*

Yeah, that chick was definitely not growing right. It already had feathers and everything. There's no way those organs were magically gonna suck back up inside of its body. "Best" case scenario you'd have a chick born with a sack of organs hanging off of its chest that would have gotten infected and it would have died from that.

Yeah, I'd rather not have chicks hatch with their organs out. It likely would have died sometime around lockdown. I'm thinking the chicks I'm getting from this breeder are inbred - I've ordered Svart Honas from him before and have had very low hatch rates with copious amounts of quitters along the way. I'm going to try a different breeder next year because once my next orders come in the mail, I think I'll be done incubating for the rest of this year.

 

[AmyJane725]

I figured out how a staggered hatch works. Ignore me. lol

 

[FowlWitch]

I've never heard of a staggered hatch before. I thought once you started the development you pretty much had to keep it going steady or they would die. How do you stop it in the middle?

I just started different eggs at different times - it's mostly because my eBay orders weren't all shipped out at the same time (even though all of the eggs were purchased the same day). One of my orders was purchased 7/10/19 and was only just shipped yesterday -_-

 

[AmyJane725]

Yeah, I'd rather not have chicks hatch with their organs out. It likely would have died sometime around lockdown. I'm thinking the chicks I'm getting from this breeder are inbred - I've ordered Svart Honas from him before and have had very low hatch rates with copious amounts of quitters along the way. I'm going to try a different breeder next year because once my next orders come in the mail, I think I'll be done incubating for the rest of this year.

Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Those organs would have dried out and become necrotic if the chick had made it to lockdown/hatch.

Sorry this breeder doesn't seem to be up to par. That's rough. Losing babies is always awful. I'm (I hope) nearly through the dangerous period with some hatchery chicks. So many casualties this time. Just horrible. Poor things.

 

[AmyJane725]

I just started different eggs at different times - it's mostly because my eBay orders weren't all shipped out at the same time (even though all of the eggs were purchased the same day). One of my orders was purchased 7/10/19 and was only just shipped yesterday -_-

Wow. Gotta love slow shippers on eBay. Do you have multiple incubators/broody hens? Because the conditions change over the course of the incubation, don't they? Can't just toss them all in together? Or are they the same up until lockdown/hatch time?

 

[FowlWitch]

Yeah, that wouldn't be good. Those organs would have dried out and become necrotic if the chick had made it to lockdown/hatch.

Sorry this breeder doesn't seem to be up to par. That's rough. Losing babies is always awful. I'm (I hope) nearly through the dangerous period with some hatchery chicks. So many casualties this time. Just horrible. Poor things.

Chickens sure are a delicate bunch, aren't they? Sorry to hear you're having it rough, too. I hope your babies pull through!

 

[FowlWitch]

Wow. Gotta love slow shippers on eBay. Do you have multiple incubators/broody hens? Because the conditions change over the course of the incubation, don't they? Can't just toss them all in together? Or are they the same up until lockdown/hatch time?

I have 3 incubators - Farm Innovators 4250 for incubation, Little Giants for lockdown (because I don't have an auto turner for that one), and Magic Fly I can use for incubation or lockdown. I'm currently using the MF for my duck eggs since they need different humidity. I have the Little Giant going and plugged into a rheostat because the temps fluctuate too much (something wrong with the thermometer or heating element - another reason to avoid incubating in it). I'm getting the humidity leveled out because I'm putting some eggs in for lockdown tomorrow night

 

[AmyJane725]

Chickens sure are a delicate bunch, aren't they? Sorry to hear you're having it rough, too. I hope your babies pull through!

Thanks. I think these BLRW bantams are just really weak and had a horrible time in shipping. I've lost 10/18 of them. Originally ordered 9, and once 5 of those had passed I contacted the hatchery and they sent me 9 more. Lost 4 from the new batch, including my little tiny 19 g chick I named Minnie. Still really sad about her. And my poor little Wheezy who was the sixth death from the first batch. I'm hoping I buried the last one today and that the rest will live. I've never had such horrible attrition rates before. Prior to these chicks I had only ever had 3 die out of 34.

 

[AmyJane725]

I have 3 incubators - Farm Innovators 4250 for incubation, Little Giants for lockdown (because I don't have an auto turner for that one), and Magic Fly I can use for incubation or lockdown. I'm currently using the MF for my duck eggs since they need different humidity. I have the Little Giant going and plugged into a rheostat because the temps fluctuate too much (something wrong with the thermometer or heating element - another reason to avoid incubating in it). I'm getting the humidity leveled out because I'm putting some eggs in for lockdown tomorrow night

Sounds like you have quite the operation going. Have you hatched many eggs before?

I'd kinda like to try hatching some eggs, rather than putting more babies through the horror that is the USPS (especially after these most recent ones), but I really shouldn't drop the dough for a proper incubator right now, and I also don't have room for any more chickens currently. I'll have to do some flock management. Maybe next year. But I also like to have my chicks vaccinated. I guess I'd have to buy some vaccine and do it myself?

 

[Shezadandy]

I've watched this video before, actually, and it's very interesting.

One thing I notice is the chick in the video didn't have external organs at day 14, but today the chick from my egg had organs outside of the body cavity. I'm thinking the chick was probably going to fail whether I had broken the egg or not. Thoughts?

Yes, I agree. You were lucky in a way to have seen what happened. Have you had any issues with that particular rooster/hen pairing, i.e. a lower than average hatch compared to others?

Edited to add: I hadn't read the 2nd page posts. If you took photo documentation of the embryo, I would forward it to the breeder as it is highly unusual. Definitely find another breeder and I'd avoid inter-breeding anything that does hatch for you. Sorry to hear about the disappointing results. Ugh.