Opening an egg - what am I looking for?

[tara7815]

My eggs have gone several days past hatch. I believe it has to do with my humidity levels.
I want to open an egg and see what happened.
What am I looking for exactly?

I am doing this not only for my own information but for the 4-H kids in my club that are studying poultry. I don't plan to open in front of them but I am going to photo the process and let them see what went wrong - but first I need to understand it.

So is there a sight with photos or something that will show me what went wrong by the way it all looks on the inside?

Thanks again!

 

[BarefootMom]

There are these photos floating around on FB of each development day by day. It might help you.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/fbx/?set=a.194676623908389.45092.186188768090508

 

[chicmom]

Hello-

Opening unhatched eggs can be so informative......Do you have an egg candler? I like to look at them first so I don't have to open them all.....You can tell if they're infertile....

But opening them is fine too. You want to look and see if there were embryos that grew and just quit......You're looking at various stages of development, or the egg that never even started to develop. You might see partially developed embryos, and maybe chicks that developed fully but never hatched from the eggs......

Once you take a look, you can sometimes figure out what went wrong with the incubation process. Sometimes you can tell if there was too much humidity, or not enough...things like that. I know there is a troubleshooting website for incubation......I'll have to see if I can find it for you......


Why don't you take a look, and then post what you see, and I'm sure members will help you figure out what went wrong......

 

[tara7815]

Thank you so much!

I did candle yesterday and removed what was clearly never developed.
All of the remaining are dark dark with air sacs.

I also did the water/float test that was recommended on here and they all were floating at about 10-15% above water - which tells me they were probably pretty developed if I am understanding it all correctly.

I think the hygrometer in my bator is broken.

I also had a spraddle leg chick from this set and I read somewhere that sometimes that can be a result of humidity? Is this true?

I also had one that was stuck and I had to help out because he was coming out rear first.

I'm convinced it was humidity levels or the incubator being openeed too much.

I was stupid and didn't just leave the chicks in there - I took them out when dry so the bator was opeened too much during the hatching time frame.

I'm certain I did something wrong and I am about to set more eggs so I just don't want to let the same thing happen again

 

[karimw]

Quote:
I know the feeling

I had problems with humidity too - too much, too little, both probably. This time I set my incubator up to hatch in the middle of the week - I'll be at work with less inclination to get involved

 

[Ridgerunner]

No photos, but these might help. As you will see, there are many possible causes for about anything, but I do learn by opening the eggs.

Mississippi State Incubation Troubleshooting
http://www.poultry.msstate.edu/extension/pdf/troubleshooting_incubation.pdf

Florida Incubation Troubleshooting
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/aa204

 

[hokankai]

This is a great thread with pictures

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=491421