Just discovered that 2 eggs are twins.

[Sphinx]

Oh, interesting. I'm sorry about the power outage.

I definitely am interested to hear how this turns out. I'm subscribing to the thread.

 

[ChickenWifey]

I learned something new! I didn't know you could have 2 chicks in one egg!

 

[AngelaPenny]

Day 17 and I candled. The last of the strange looking eggs is labelled #4.

The other eggs in the batch look good, large embryos, right on track, good webs of veins throughout the entire egg, not a whole bunch of space left that isn't taken up by the embryos.

And #4....well....it's very odd.

At first glance I saw 2 very distinct shapes, same as usual, but now one of these shapes is much larger. But both were moving. There seems to be a break in continuity between the shapes, which makes me wonder if they are still two different beings.

The strangest thing about this egg is the lack of good veins throughout. There are very thin veins, but only on one half of the egg, the same side as the shapes. And whatever is living inside is nowhere as big as the other embryos.

The other peculiar thing about #4 is that there is something very much alive in there despite it all. There was LOTS of movement when candling.

I have a staggered hatch in there, these guys are due Saturday, and there are a dozen others due next Wednesday. I'm going to remove the later batch and put them in the other bator while these guys hatch. I think, fingers crossed, if #4 makes it to lockdown, I'll slip it in with the later hatch as it seems nowhere near the right size yet.

Before anyone asks, I didn't mix them up, #4 is a brown egg from my flock, and next week's are white eggs from a friend.

Stay tuned. I'm very interested in what's going to happen, and worse case scenario, break out and see what I've been growing....

 

[adrian]

Usually chicks only get stuck to the membrane if turning has been insufficient. Most often they die from this. Any reason that these eggs might not be being turned sufficiently?

 

[AngelaPenny]

The only difference with this batch was that I turned the eggs more at the beginning, 5 times a day instead of 3, after reading a new book called "A Guide To Better Hatching".

For the first 8 days I turned them 5 times a day, and then after that I did 3 times a day. So I don't know....

I candled that egg again before lockdown, and it is still very much alive, nowhere near the size of the other embryos, I would guess that it was taking up 1/2 the space in the egg, and the rest of the 'normal' eggs were almost filled to capacity.

And yet, the veins are 'weak' looking, and one mass is much smaller than the other.

But it's rocking! It's definitely rocking in the bator. It's such a strange egg.

I will definitely include pictures of what I find, whether it hatches or I break it open afterwards.

 

[adrian]

How strange. I turn 5 times a day when manually turning myself and have never seen what you are describing so it must just be one of those things. Are they your own eggs, or were they shipped, or did you pick them up yourself? Maybe if they were shipped eggs that could explain it, but other than that I can't think of any explanation. Will be interesting to see what happens. Rocking is probably a good sign.

 

[AngelaPenny]

They are from my own eggs, so I can't blame it on the shipping....

It's made me very curious, but at the same time, pretty apprehensive about what may be in there. It's not normal, so I'm praying that a severely deformed chick (or two) doesn't emerge.

 

[PsychedChicken]

AHH!!! The suspense is killing me! I gotta know what happens....

 

[AngelaPenny]

I KNOW!

I have peeping and peeping happening with the siblings, so it shouldn't be too long now.

And #4 is still rocking away in the bator.....

 

[smchickfarm]

GOOD LUCK!