I found this on a site it freaks me out!

[Berynn]

I found this on a web site. I am thinking about trying incubation. I thought this would interest someone. It kind of freaks me out

Shell-free Cuture System Procedure

Eggs must be at 72-hours of incubation, or the yolk will be too fragile to be transferred without breaking.


1. Fill a plastic cup with an inch of water. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the cup, letting it drape down a bit. It must be secured with a rubber band to hold the plastic wrap in position.
2. Trim away excess plastic wrap around the rubber band. (If plastic is not trimmed, the egg albumen will wick out of the container creating a mess in the incubator and reducing the embryo survival)
3. Obtain a 72-hour egg. Wipe the shell with 70% ethanol and allow it to dry. Hold the egg horizontally for 1 minute to allow the embryo to rotate to the upper side of the shell.
4. Carefully crack the egg as if for frying and let the contents drop onto the plastic wrap. Try to crack the egg gently but firmly so that a single large crack is produced. DO NOT BREAK THE YOLK. If the yolk breaks, there is little chance that the embryo will survive.
5. Look for the embryo. It may have ended up underneath the yolk. It usually will float to the top of the yolk within a few minutes.
6. Cover the entire assembly with a 100mm-diameter plastic petri dish lid. Place the culture in the egg incubator (at 38 degrees Celsius). Observe the cultured embryos daily. As the embryo develops, note especially changes in the eye, limbs, and extra-embryonic membranes.

 

[silkiechicken]

Another way to do it, which I think is easier, is to just "window" the egg. Remove about 3cc of albumin from the egg, put some electrical tape on the top side (so you don't crack egg too much), cut out a window though the tape, and cover the window with plastic. You can do an experiment in it and monitor it over time with this method. In that cup, chances are you won't get the thing to be over about 10 days old before it dies. Rarely, if done with experience, you can get windowed eggs to hatch.

 

[d_rooster]

I would guess that the two most critical things in this method would be asceptic technique during set up and being able to ensure adequate air exchange for the developing embryo. Also, I am wondering how critical it would be to turn the egg with this method, since you would be removing the membrane and the shell. Would the embryo stick to the plastic wrap?

I would think that if one had access to a laminar flow hood for setup and autoclaves for sterilizing culture vessels, then the chances of success with this method would be greatly enhanced. Using a sterile 0.2 micron filter glass fiber filter to cover the egg container rather than a petri dish would allow for improved air exchange while keeping out fungal spores and some bacteria.

Yes, I am a science geek and worked in a microbiology lab for several years.

 

[rooster-red]

I have enough trouble incubating the "normal" way, I wouldn't attempt this unless I was doing some kind of experiment.

 

[KingsCalls]

Quote:
R-R, what kind of experiment would you be doing to where you had to kill a chick after 10+ days ?

 

[jeaucamom]

Sorry, but experimenting with life isn't right to me.

 

[Berynn]

I remember when we were in grade school and we hatched chicks, we were told that the chicks need to build strenght by hatching out of there shell. Before I bought hens I spent 10 months learning as much as I could about them. I got three in october, now I have 7. One died the second day that it was home. I lost three to hawks and I take responsibiliy for it.
I felt sorry for them being cooped up. I read where they like to free range, and the guy at my feed store told me that they were to big for hawks to kill. He was wrong. My neighbors dog killed one. If there was ever a time were a grown man wanted to cry it was then.
I am now going to try incubation, but I will spend a lot of time learning as much as I can then try.