If my embryo isn't wriggling at 13 days is it dead? Please help?

[Bantam Username]

I have one very wriggly egg when candled, I have 2 others that look the same but don't move at all, are they dead and just going rotten?
They don't smell but the dark bits are growing at the same rate as the wriggly egg so how can I tell if they are going rotten, or growing because they are alive, as they don't seem to react at all to candling?

 

[mstricer]

Maybe they are sleeping when you look.

 

[farmgirlforever18]

Can you see the blood vessels? i hade one that wasn’t moving when i candled it and i left it in the Bator and its running around in the yard

 

[MetalSmitten]

i'd personally let them continue, unless they show obvious signs of death. candle them again in a few more days and see if they're bigger or if the air sac has changed at all

sometimes they just aren't wiggly when you're peeking. i've been tricked before by non-moving embryos that hatched out just fine, so i always like to err on the side of caution.

if you're really impatient or just really want to know, you can fill a bowl (it needs to be deeper than the egg is tall) with warm water and gently place the egg in the water. give it a minute so the ripples from putting the egg in go away, and if the egg is still jiggling around in the water, that's the baby inside moving. if the egg and water both come completely to a standstill, no ripples or movement (wait a few minutes to be sure) then that egg is probably no longer alive. if the egg sinks completely under the water, it was infertile. if it floats really high, the embryo has died, and you need to be careful because the egg is full of decomposition gas (ie - gettin ready to explode). you want it floating with about 10-20% or so of the pointy end sticking out of the water. any dead eggs can then be tossed, and the live eggs blotted dry and returned to the incubator.

 

[Bantam Username]

Yep, can just see the blood vessels on them, although as they are getting bigger, its getting harder to see details. I do hope they are alive as the one that I know is well is so very active, I'd hate for it to end up just on its own or ruined by an exploding egg.

 

[Bantam Username]

Thank you, I'll try that tomorrow and hope so hard that they are alive!

 

[MetalSmitten]

any luck?

 

[Bantam Username]

I didn't see any ripples at all, but one egg which I was pretty certain was bad just sunk, so I opened it to find a blood ring and a very small embryo that was obviously dead. The two I was uncertain about, I am still uncertain about as they floated just right, bobbed side to side a little then were still.
Also, one that I can't see developing at all did the same, but since the bad egg had an embryo inside when it had looked clear except for the ring, I'm keeping this one too just to make sure.
So really no more sure than I was in the first place but I now have 4 left in my incubator.

 

[MetalSmitten]

well at least the one dud was obvious. i have a feeling though that if you didn't see ripples, the others may be no good =/ i usually let them set for at least a few minutes or so, and if there's no movement whatsoever then i check them again the next day and if it's the same, then i assume they are lost. this test really works best for older eggs (those babies move more vigorously) but i would personally think that at day 14, you should see movement. did you try the one egg you're sure is still alive? just to give you a baseline comparison of what SHOULD happen with healthy embryos.

 

[Bantam Username]

No I didn't, idiot that I am!!!

I got a phone call from my mother half way through and clean forgot to do that one! I'll try again in a day or two, by the way, I made sure the water was about 37 degrees Celsius, I don't know Fahrenheight, does it matter if the water temperature is bang on or not?