March Hatch-A-Long

[two j farm]

I'm having a serious "OH CRAP!!!!!" Moment!! I candled the eggs one last time to be sure. I saw one that had a blood ring and was breaking down. I googled it a dozen times, and I was positive it was dead. I was curious as to what happened - and what the inside of an egg looks like. So... I gently cracked the air bubble with a screw, and peeled away bits of the egg to see.

I wish I hadn't. So much. It MOVED. I thought it was fluids twisting. No. The baby moved. It pulsed up and down. I feel so, so bad now.

I opened the egg under a very humid blanket - I was under the blanket to see where the air sac was, and my breath fogged it up a LOT. As soon as I realized I covered the hole with my thumb and put it back in the incubator.

I feel like a total turd now. If I killed that poor baby I'll never forgive myself. I was sure it was dead...

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If you are close to hatch I would wrap a warm wet paper towel around the egg and watch it in the incubator. If you still have a good size pace of the shell, I would place it back on the egg and seal it with wax, be sure not to get wax inside the egg. Good luck, and don't feel so bad, I dropped one on day 16 and the chick was still alive and I had to watch it die.

 

[two j farm]

If you are close to hatch I would wrap a warm wet paper towel around the egg and watch it in the incubator. If you still have a good size pace of the shell, I would place it back on the egg and seal it with wax, be sure not to get wax inside the egg. Good luck, and don't feel so bad, I dropped one on day 16 and the chick was still alive and I had to watch it die.

How to fix it if you have the shell.

 

[Tatuana]

No shell, so I wrapped the hole with plastic wrap and tape. It's about a finger sized hole. When I put oil on it to prevent drying it kicked me, though! Hopefully he decides to hatch soon.

 

[Stick Chicken]

Wow looks like I missed a lot in the last 7days when I was out of town. Congrats on all the new chicks!

First thing I did when I got home was check on my eggs. Most are at day 15. The humidity dropped to 20% so I added a tiny bit of water to bump it up. My front yard has brown crunchy grass so we didn’t have any rain while I was gone.


When I picked up a egg for candling I knew right away from the weight that it was alive. Much heavier!

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Out of 15 eggs I saw movement in 14 ( sooo cool!) . They are beginning to fill up the shell. Two seem to be a little behind on development but they were moving. Even though the shells are brown I can see them very clear now. So the 4eggs that the silkie hen was only sitting on them at night for 4 days are doing well! The first one that I took out of the nest when I first noticed that the hen was off for 5hrs looks to be a day ahead of them all ( very dark hard to see anything other than a few veins) .


The 15th egg was the one that I thought might be a blood ring at day 7 was clearly deceased . So I took that one out.

That's good that everything is going well after your being away.

 

[Stick Chicken]

I'm having a serious "OH CRAP!!!!!" Moment!! I candled the eggs one last time to be sure. I saw one that had a blood ring and was breaking down. I googled it a dozen times, and I was positive it was dead. I was curious as to what happened - and what the inside of an egg looks like. So... I gently cracked the air bubble with a screw, and peeled away bits of the egg to see.

I wish I hadn't. So much. It MOVED. I thought it was fluids twisting. No. The baby moved. It pulsed up and down. I feel so, so bad now.

I opened the egg under a very humid blanket - I was under the blanket to see where the air sac was, and my breath fogged it up a LOT. As soon as I realized I covered the hole with my thumb and put it back in the incubator.

I feel like a total turd now. If I killed that poor baby I'll never forgive myself. I was sure it was dead...

View attachment 1712954

Everyone makes mistakes. If it's close to hatch day it may be okay and hatch since you wrapped it up some, but don't beat yourself up; we all have made errors that we regret.

 

[Stick Chicken]

No shell, so I wrapped the hole with plastic wrap and tape. It's about a finger sized hole. When I put oil on it to prevent drying it kicked me, though! Hopefully he decides to hatch soon.

I would be careful that the tape doesn't cover too much of the egg and make it harder for the chick to hatch. Good luck.

 

[two j farm]

No shell, so I wrapped the hole with plastic wrap and tape. It's about a finger sized hole. When I put oil on it to prevent drying it kicked me, though! Hopefully he decides to hatch soon.

How many more days til hatch. Hope it makes it

 

[Tatuana]

I would be careful that the tape doesn't cover too much of the egg and make it harder for the chick to hatch. Good luck.

Yeah, it's just a tiny bit. I was worried about that as well. I'm not sure what other options there are. A wet paper towel was suggested. I may do that if it's safe.

How many more days til hatch. Hope it makes it

It was due yesterday, actually! Non of them are in a hurry to hatch for whatever reason.


Both the one I opened by accident and another one 'pulse' if I put the light up to them. You can see the membrane go up above the aircell line a little bit and then go back down. Like a slow heart beat or breathing. One I can only see it do that through the shell. The other did it while I was poking it with a Qtip and oil.

 

[cppeace]

must be a glutton for punishment I couldn't help but just order another dozen Bresse eggs to try again. Ugh Why Am I so determined to hatch more? lol Mixing ages is going to be such a pain if I get some to hatch out of this dozen.... Ah well, at least this group will have a circulated incubator since I'm adding a fan.

 

[Stick Chicken]

must be a glutton for punishment I couldn't help but just order another dozen Bresse eggs to try again. Ugh Why Am I so determined to hatch more? lol Mixing ages is going to be such a pain if I get some to hatch out of this dozen.... Ah well, at least this group will have a circulated incubator since I'm adding a fan.

Good luck with this next hatch when you get the eggs. Did you get the from the same place?