Is There Anything to be Gained...?

[peepinglaura]

I have a broody hen sitting on some eggs, day 10. One of them had an embryo that died probably yesterday. It looks as if the egg sac somehow dislodged. The embryo is kind of floating.

I know a lot of you open the egg to garner any info. I gotta say, my curiosity doesn't outweigh my squeamishness.

I hope to continue to incubate and allow my hens to brood a lot in the future. Would there be any useful knowledge I might get by going through the unpleasant task of examining a dead embryo, or can I just ditch it freely? I can make myself do it; I'd just rather not.

I can't believe I used to dissect fetal pigs with enthusiasm in high school.

LAura

 

[gabrielle1976]

as long as you know its dead there is no real reason to open it if you dont want to . I am shure some people might learn alot from them but Im asumeing if you dont know what youre looking at you wont learn a whole lot I dont know . I havent checked my eggs so far that havent been good.
Good luck

 

[Chickenaddict]

The only eggs i inspect are the ones that made it to full term but never hatched just to see if there was an obvious reason why they haven't hatched. I do all my hatching under broodies and candle the eggs at day 10 and 18. If i was you I wouldn't open it either, just chuck it in the trash

 

[peepinglaura]

OK great. I give myself permission to toss the eggs!|

What could ever be learned by opening them? Just to see if many are dying at the same stage of development in order to pinpoint a timeframe?