lockdown is coming so fast!!

[Duckles]

My saddleback pomeranian eggs are set to go into lockdown on Friday... some questions...

1. We took a couple toulouse eggs from under his mother's goose because she has a history of sitting on duds. One was dead, one infertile and one was moving around when candled. This was on Easter, and we estimated she had probably been sitting for about 2 weeks by then. We were thinking the one fertile egg should have hatched by now but the one in the incubator hasn't pipped, (we don't see any movement on candling) and neither have any under the mama goose. I'm worried about putting my eggs into lockdown with a possibly rotten egg. Should I ditch it? Also a little worried about her sitting on eggs that are no good, I wonder when we should give up on those...

2. I had 5 pomeranian eggs. One, as my fiance put it "just went 'poof' and disintigrated"... it looked and smelled pretty gross, but it had been developing at first. From the beginning I was a little worried by how much smaller that egg was, but I'm still worried something went wrong with the incubating conditions. Now 3 of the remaining 4 are moving like crazy when I candle them, but one is sorta just black. Not the black yucky "poof" look, it almost looks like it's all gosling and no veins or fluid. It also has a funny shaped air cell. Should I remove that one before lockdown?

They are at 99.5 degrees f, 30% humidity. I'll have to mark the air cells tonight. I just realized this morning how soon lockdown was and now I am worried about increasing the humidity with possibly rotten eggs, I feel like that would spread germs, especially once eggs start hatching. Ball of nerves right here... sorry.

 

[pete55]

Hi Duckles

Firstly have you compared the appearance of your Toulouse egg to the pictures in the Incubation Diary I did earlier? My threads can be found by clicking below my avatar on 'View My BYC Page'. Candle again and look for evidence of any blood vessels near the demarcation line of the air cell. If you're still not sure then place the egg on a smooth flat surface and observe for any movement. By my reckoning your Toulouse egg is on Day 33 but as you're uncertain of your dates it may not be that advanced. You must try to make doubly sure the egg is not viable as there's still a chance. At the very worst open a small hole over the air cell and moisten the membrane to see if there are still any active vessels. If so then use surgical tape to reseal the egg. By doing this you have not damaged the hatchling though the smaller the hole the better.

Secondly you have to apply the same checks to the 'dark' Pomeranian egg. Also smell it as a rotten egg soon gives off a sulphur-like smell. You can always candle and check for movement in the aircell. Do not even worry about lockdown until the eggs externally pip and check for breathing to confirm internal pipping before worrying about lockdown.

Hope that helps

Pete

 

[Balbinka]

Good luck!

 

[Duckles]

Thanks Balbinka! - I'll keep you posted

Pete - We hadn't seen any movement or blood vessels or movement in a couple weeks. We had thought it was about to hatch then with a stronger candler we could see that it wasn't as developed as we thought. Then it died. We opened the egg and it just looked like an ooey gooey mess with a little embryo with a few feathers and this (sorry to be gross) raw chicken looking stuff. This was one of 3 we took and the other two were already dead. Mama is currently sitting on about 20 more eggs from this batch that might be dead too. What to do what to do...

The dark pomeranian egg looks about the same as this dead toulouse egg did so I think we'll keep it in ther for a bit longer but I have no hope for it really.

Thanks for the help! I really appreciate it... Today is day 24 and I have 3 eggs left...

 

[pete55]

Hi Duckles

Of the 3 eggs left make sure you're incubating them at 37.2C and a dry incubator. Also keep up daily cooling. With the strong candler you should be able to see some blood vessels and I would mark the outline of the aircells with a pencil. They should draw down the air cell within 2-3 days so its a good reference point to see sudden enlargement. Once you see the shadows in the aircell you'll know internal pipping is approaching.

With the eggs under the goose maybe its time to break her of being broody if there's going to be no positive outcome. You can always candle the eggs to be sure they're not duds when you remove them.

Good luck and keep us posted on the other eggs

Pete