I just fractured an egg shell on day 16. Help! It's oozing..

[Andora]

Now I'm scared it's rotten. Should it have a funky smell if it's still alive??

 

[chiknhut]

Did you candle it to see if there was movement? That's what I would do. If there's movement, try to repair it. As far as smelling, I haven't had one to do that yet.

 

[Country Living Farm]

What is the best type of wax? Just plain candle? or something special.

 

[rizq]

I use a plain, unscented taper candle to drip wax when I need it. Works pretty well. Clear fingernail polish is easier ... but probably not the best for the health of the embryo (I have tried it ... cannot comment on whether it worked or not since my bator went crazy and I lost the whole batch).

 

[Andora]

It seems like the egg has sealed itself. Is that possible? It's still cracked but not oozing today. The crack is coated over with dried goo. I am TERRIFIED that it will explode though.

I just candled it and I saw that the air mass has grown. It has the air cell on the side, so I'm really confused as to what I am seeing. In one end there is a (growing) dark lump that is not uniform in shape. Then the rest of the egg was mostly dark.

Since this is my first time hatching, I'm not really sure what I am looking for. I couldn't see movement in any of my eggs, but I think my flashlight is not bright enough to see through the brown shells that well.

 

[farrier!]

With the crack there odds are it will ooze rather then explode. If it were mine I would just wait it out.

 

[Akane]

They will seal over. The white leaks out and dries on the crack to close it. If that happens though it's so unlikely it will hatch that I probably wouldn't even bother incubating it unless it were at least on day 16. If you're really close to hatch I'd just leave it since it's unlikely it will go rotten enough to cause problems in that time and it does have some chance of hatching if the chick is almost fully developed.