Now, Second Egg at day 25 and questions

[pbandj]

Hi everyone. I know it is impossible to give me an exact cause, but I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on a late death. The egg was doing fine with movement until the 25th day. When I candled, I was pretty sure it was gone. I put it in the lockdown incubator just in case and today checked and definitely dead. I broke it open and it looked to be forming normally (not sure as this was my first) with feathers and eye slits but the abdominal contents were still outside (which I take it is normal). There was no internal pipping, membrane still intact. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[Balbinka]

Out of the (6 TOTAL) Sebastopol eggs I bought (only paid for 4), I had 1 late death at about 24 days.
Another an early embryo death, the next an infertile double yolker.

The chick was wonderful up until day 24... candled with movement and veins. On day 24 ( or 25?) it had a slight smell to it. I was afraid to risk it by putting it back with the other eggs, so I removed it. Nervously, a friend and I broke it open to discover a well formed, but expired gosling. It seemed pretty normal- but the deal with this egg was it had a crack to begin with (a small crack, wouldn't have noticed if the supplier didn't say so). Honestly, I was surprised it developed as far as it did.

You cannot always pinpoint the reasons that cause late death (for mine, I suspect the egg was probably too porous for healthy, complete development). Make sure to look at your temperature, humidity, and observe how the other eggs are doing. I got very lucky with my three that are surviving. Two are in the process of hatching- the third due in one week. At one point, I adjusted the incubator too high and they sat in 110 degrees Farenheit for about 15 minutes (I know, BAD JASMINE!).

Some babies are "just not meant to be".

Everything happens for a reason. I'm sorry for your loss, take it all one step at a time.

 

[pbandj]

Thank you. I appreciate it! I have one more working still on day 23, so we will see what happens from there. After doing some more reading on here, it seems not that unusual to have this happen. Thanks again!

 

[pete55]

pbandj - I rather suspect that your gosling died as the egg had not lost sufficient weight during incubation (as moisture loss). Im sorry for your dissappointment. To help point you in the right direction can you tell me what your temperature and humidy levels are??? Also is your incubator forced or still air???

Regards

Pete

 

[pbandj]

Hi Pete. I read your posts last night and have figured out some things that I did wrong. As embarrasing as it is to admit, I believe I started that egg off at about 68-70% humidity. Temperature has always been 99.5 to 100 depending on when I am looking. I am running a Hovabator with a fan and automatic goose egg turner. I changed my humidity and turned it down at about day 20'ish on the last egg, so that would have put me at day 15 for the current egg, but really only dropped it about 10% or so. Right now, it is running 44-46% according to the wet bulb in there and 99.5 degrees. I did not remove any vents with the last egg but I have one out right now. My room humidity is at 50% if that means anything. After reading all your posts and Wonderful information!, I do believe that I "drowned" that poor baby... The air sack on that egg was not near where it should have been according to what I have seen here. The current egg seems to be doing better.



Any helpful suggestions on helping this one make it? It is at day 24 right now and I do have water in the center trough.

Thanks!! and thank you for the great information you have shared on here!

Pam

 

[Gracie9205]

Take ALL that water out! Do not add any more water until the gosling externally pips. You need it to lose as much weight as possible at this point. Then you can go ahead and get your humidity up around 75% or so once you see the pip. Good luck!

 

[pbandj]

Thanks Gracie9205, water has been removed!

 

[pbandj]

Well, we are at day 25 today and have made some big changes in the air cell (see below). When I candle, there is movement in the back of the air cell, does not looked pipped yet but definitely poking around back there. NO water whatsoever and humidity is at 22-24, temperature 99.5, both vent plugs are out.

Question to Gracie9205 or Pete55, or anyone who cares to chip in! Does it appear that we are on the right track now? So I should leave everything as is until the external pip and then raise humidity to about 75%, right? Is there a certain position that I need to have this egg in? I have left it in the egg turner but the turner is unplugged becuase I am afraid to move it to the bottom because of change in temperature. Do I need to change this? One last question, do I need to stop turning all together now and just leave as is?

Thanks again for all the wonderful advice. You are lifesavers, literally!

Today's air cell lines

 

[pete55]

Hi

Quick reply as Im at work. From the photo above your egg is in the correct postion with the majority of the air cell facing upwards. The shadow will probably extend down the sides then a little at the front - listen and you may hear the regular' tap - tap - tap' noise which confirms external pipping. Then wait for external pipping before transferring to hatcher (or increasing humidity to 65-75%).

For now - stop turning and run dry at a low humidity at 37.5C/99.5F. All seems to be progressing as expected

Hope that helps - -Pete

 

[pbandj]

Thank you so much Pete! That was very helpful! I greatly appreciate it!