Incubation question - chicks forming where air cell is?

[newchickychick]

So I noticed something when doing a candling - on a shipped egg, where the air cell was detached, a chick had started forming where the air cell was. I've been leaving eggs room temp for 24 hours before putting them in the incubator, then not turning for 72 hours (3 days) before I put them in the turner. There was one egg I thought I saw a hairline scratch on so I did a candling to make sure it was or wasn't, and lo and behold... veins! Well, I couldn't see the embryo. So I gently turned it onto its side, and the chick had formed at the top where the air cell should be. Is there something I'm doing wrong to make this happen? Should I have it lay on its side to help it develop in the yolk? I couldn't really find an answer from searching, so I wanted to be sure I'm doing right by the eggs if I encounter this again and can hopefully do right by this egg. I did put it in its own turner so I can find it again quickly in case I need to adjust it. I did put it on its side so it wasn't directly in the air cell, but can move it back quickly if need be. Drew a quick thing to show what I mean - I didn't want to keep handling it and fiddling with it too much to get pics so recently after I'd handled it.
My incubators are Maticoopx30s and the orientation is set to be vertical for turning.

When I first candled, I couldn't see the embryo as above. I could just see the spidering.

When I turned it gently onto its side, I could clearly see the embryo, as above.

 

[Susan Skylark]

You didn’t do anything wrong, shipped eggs with saddled or detached air cells have been through the wringer and are highly stressed. The good news for this egg is that it is as likely to hatch as any other in this batch. The bad news for you and your eggs are that the whole batch has been traumatized. The damage is already done and there isn’t anything you can do to mitigate it. Prepare yourself for a low hatch rate, deformed chicks, high embryonic death rates, and a scary amount of dead in shell chicks, I know this isn’t comforting but you need to prepare yourself for a bad hatch, it is part of the risk f shipping eggs, you should still get birds, just not as many as you might anticipate and maybe you’ll only lose a couple. I had a batch of 40 this spring, 25% hatch rate, 50% dead in shell, heart breaking but don’t be afraid to try again! Interestingly, the normal air cell eggs and the detached air cell eggs hatched or didn’t at about the same rate. I even hatched one last batch that didn’t seem to have one, so don’t give up!

 

[newchickychick]

You didn’t do anything wrong, shipped eggs with saddled or detached air cells have been through the wringer and are highly stressed. The good news for this egg is that it is as likely to hatch as any other in this batch. The bad news for you and your eggs are that the whole batch has been traumatized. The damage is already done and there isn’t anything you can do to mitigate it. Prepare yourself for a low hatch rate, deformed chicks, high embryonic death rates, and a scary amount of dead in shell chicks, I know this isn’t comforting but you need to prepare yourself for a bad hatch, it is part of the risk f shipping eggs, you should still get birds, just not as many as you might anticipate and maybe you’ll only lose a couple. I had a batch of 40 this spring, 25% hatch rate, 50% dead in shell, heart breaking but don’t be afraid to try again! Interestingly, the normal air cell eggs and the detached air cell eggs hatched or didn’t at about the same rate. I even hatched one last batch that didn’t seem to have one, so don’t give up!

With the embryo forming where it is, should I have it on its side or keep upright? I know it may be a silly question but I’ve never really thought about if it’s fatal for a chick to be forming in its air cell or not. I was pretty puzzled!

I will say we did our first batch shipped too (this is #3, #1 is still hatching) and I have started with the mantra of “even 1 is great” especially since I’m new to hatching! We had an early hatcher already with the first batch (due tomorrow) and it is SO lively and thankfully no signs of defects. I was shocked and amazed honestly that it was so healthy after hatching early and being shipped. I definitely am prepared for bad batches with shipped chicks, but am hoping I can help these guys with developing! I just didn’t want to doom them by turning or not turning them on their side if they’ve already begun forming in the fat end where the air cell is. I was so confused about there being so many veins but no embryo where there should be one, then was surprised to see that when I turned it.