Last egg laggin behind

Weeg

Enabler
Jul 1, 2020
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Small town in Western Washington
My Coop
My Coop
Today was day 20 of incubation for a batch of 15 Serama hatching eggs. They were shipped from Florida, so 50% hatch is to be expected. I have an amazing broody hen who I gave 7 eggs to, and kept 8 in my bator. On day 6 only 2 of my eggs were still alive, :confused:, and all of hers were going strong. I'm using a NR360 with a calibrated thermometer etc, so I don't think my bator was the problem, probably just the fact that shipping was so harsh.
I gave Sunny, my broody, one of my surviving eggs to ensure it would continue to grow. I tossed the quitters on day 13. My one egg made it to lockdown, and 6 of Sunny's did as well. On day 19, yesterday night, my egg now named Birdie, hatched. She's healthy and happy! 😍
This morning, 5 of Sunny's 6 eggs all started to hatch. Ranging from about 10-20 minuets apart. I placed Birdie under Sunny after the 3rd egg hatched, which hatched in my hand. 🥰 Sunny excepted Bridie without any issues. After all the chicks were out, one egg was still legging behind. No external pip, nothing. I was ready to move Sunny and babies out to the coop were they could have their own large separate space. I decided to take my chances and candle the egg.
I'm honesty not sure if the egg is alive or not. It wasn't very dark so of course the veins weren't prominent. Though I did see the shapes and some of the veins looked quite thick and large. I didn't see movement, though I didn't hold it for very long because I was worried about the humidity drop. I could see a large mass that was the chick, but no internal pip. I placed the egg in my incubator to relive Sunny of the chore. Plus, I can now keep an eye on it and control the humidity and temperature its exposed to. Tomorrow will be day 21, so still a bit early. I would have gotten a photo of the egg as well, but again, I didn't want the humidity to drop for too long.
Right now, my incubator is at 69% humidity, and 99.5 degrees. It did take about an hour for the humidity to rise from 50ish to 69% though, as I let it drop so Birdie to dry out.
If the egg is indeed alive, I'm very concerned about shirk-wrapping. I lifted Sunny multiple times to check on hatching chicks, 😬 and make sure Birdie was still doing alright. Then I candled. What should I look for if the egg is shrink-wrapped? I've read articles about the topic and I've heard you basically have to do the hatch for them. Will it be able to internally pip if its shrink-wrapped? I feel like I read it will be able to, but what about external pip? Should I be concerned about shrink-wrapping at all? Thanks for your help everyone, I'll keep you updated on how the egg does.
 
I thought shrink wrapping only happened if the chick had externally pipped? If the shell is still in tact it shouldn't dry out too much. There's a good article on here about assisted hatching which is worth a read to prepare but I'd definitely leave it a while longer before you try.
 
Humidity is what will affect "shrink wrapping" which is when the membrane dries & sticks to the chick at piping/hatch ... Keep the humidity as is and wait. Give it a few more days, if you smell stinky or see swathing on the egg, it's not gonna hatch.
Ya, I'm definitely going to keep it in as I didn't see any immediate signs of quitting.
 
I thought shrink wrapping only happened if the chick had externally pipped? If the shell is still in tact it shouldn't dry out too much. There's a good article on here about assisted hatching which is worth a read to prepare but I'd definitely leave it a while longer before you try.
Thank you! This is very good info and makes perfect sense. I haven't read up a bunch on shrink-wrapping in general, but definitely a few suggested articles on assisted hatches.
Perfect! I wont worry to much then. I'll keep this thread updated to see how it goes, theres always a late bird right. 😉
 
Any update?
Candled today, it doesn't look to promising. I sat and canceled in a dark from for about 5 minutes. I was 0 movement, and the veins look to be receding. the egg glows yellow around the edges of the air cell rather then red. Its still in the bator, but today is day 22, I'll probably toss it if the views keep receding. I'll give it another day for 2.
 

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