Lockdown for "Holey" Egg

[wsdareme]

I just put 15 of my 24 Marans eggs into lockdown for a Monday hatch. One of the eggs is an egg with a "hole" in it. My BCM hen occasionally lays an egg with a shell defect. It looks like the shell didn't set up, and it results in a soft section about the size of a pea. With this particular egg you could see the intact membrane underneath. I decided to use it has a test egg, so I filled up the hole as best I could with candle wax. My first couple of times candling the egg, at days 7 and 12, it looked like the egg was developing, but I couldn't really tell for certain. I candled it today (day 18) and it looks like there has been continued growth, although the hole has reappeared as it looks like the membrane has shrunken and pulled the wax into the egg. It will be interesting to see if anything hatches on Monday.

Here is a picture of one of her defective eggs (this is a larger hole than the egg in lockdown, but gives you an idea of the problem):

 

[shuizar209]

For sure update to see if it hatches. Have you ever hatched one ofher eggs before? Soundsto me like a calcium def. Maybe feed her some of her egg shells (crushed) or some oyster shell.

 

[wsdareme]

Yes, I have 6 of her normal eggs and they are all full of moving chicks! And they have a large container of free-choice oyster shell. It's just the oddest thing. I will update my post! The view of the inside of the holey egg was not quite as clear as the others, but if the membrane has sucked down a little that might be why. It certainly looked like the egg was full of chick.

I have to add, I just got the Brinsea High-Intensity Candler and am using it with their OvaScope. Wow, I had tried a lot of different lights to see into those really dark BCM eggs, and I am totally impressed by the new HI candler. I could see veins early on, and feathers now. I even watched what appeared to be the chick pecking at the air cell in the egg. I highly recommend the Brinsea HI candler to all my fellow BYCers with colored eggs!

 

[gfcm]

Oh, wow! I can't wait to see if this hatches!