Pip but no movement - shrink wrapped?

[OneFowlMama]

Congratulations on hatching your first little one!

I'm so sorry things didn't go smoothly and the eggs were of suspect age. I once tried incubating a clutch of eggs I'd been collecting for around 22 days, I got a pretty good hatch rate but definitely lost more than was normal. A few quit early and several made it to lockdown but were unable to hatch and I do believe most of the ones that didn't make it were past 2 weeks old.

Seeing that your sisters eggs were rotten I would guess you may have got so many blood rings from bacteria (maybe the eggs weren't kept in the most sanitary of conditions or had the protective bloom washed off making them more susceptible to bacteria entering into the egg)? It's always possible there was something that happened with the incubator (like a temperature spike) but seeing as your sisters eggs were obviously not freshly laid I'd think it more likely you didn't get good eggs.

Hopefully someone with more experience with old eggs will chime in, if you can get your hands on some good eggs that should let you know if it's a problem with your incubator or with the previous batch of eggs. If I were in your position and was going to buy fertile eggs from someone I'd want to know how old the eggs were, if they'd been washed, and I'd candle to see how big the air cell is once I got them (they should be small, not much bigger than a dime in diameter if they are less than a weak old).

I grabbed a couple of my silkie eggs to show how the air cell looks in a fresh egg compared to an egg a little over a weak old (I didn't have any older eggs unfortunately). The first is an egg that was laid probably around 5 hours ago, the second is one that was laid on the 29th of October and is 8 days old (please excuse the scribbles, I mark based on who I think laid the egg).
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Those are way smaller than the ones these eggs had! My first lot of eggs in my previous incubator had very similar air cells and she had told me they were laid 2 days prior to buying just like the other seller did with this australorp batch! I did also note some of the eggs my sister purchased were quite dirty, so I'm definitely suspicious of both bacteria and age now. Some of the eggs I got were also a bit dirty but not too severe, I wouldn't know how the nesting condition was though.

If he was telling the truth they would've gone in the incubator 5 days after lay and I always keep my eggs in a part of my room that stays between 20-22° max. It does drop down to around 18° at night so maybe I should find a spot that stays cooler in the day but a tad warmer at night in the house.

I think I'll be going back to the local chook breeder market before Christmas, that's where I got those first eggs that lasted good in my old oven incubator so theoretically should put this one through the ropes and double check it!

Thank you for the photos of the air cells and for all the advice once more, I'm going to spend the day just staring at my one beautiful bub and probably not much else! 

 

[LynnaePB]

Those are way smaller than the ones these eggs had! My first lot of eggs in my previous incubator had very similar air cells and she had told me they were laid 2 days prior to buying just like the other seller did with this australorp batch! I did also note some of the eggs my sister purchased were quite dirty, so I'm definitely suspicious of both bacteria and age now. Some of the eggs I got were also a bit dirty but not too severe, I wouldn't know how the nesting condition was though.

If he was telling the truth they would've gone in the incubator 5 days after lay and I always keep my eggs in a part of my room that stays between 20-22° max. It does drop down to around 18° at night so maybe I should find a spot that stays cooler in the day but a tad warmer at night in the house.

I think I'll be going back to the local chook breeder market before Christmas, that's where I got those first eggs that lasted good in my old oven incubator so theoretically should put this one through the ropes and double check it!

Thank you for the photos of the air cells and for all the advice once more, I'm going to spend the day just staring at my one beautiful bub and probably not much else! 

Good luck with the next batch when you do try again! When I set my last batch of eggs our house was on the warm side (around 24 degrees Celsius dipping to around 21 at night) and I had the eggs sitting for up to 6 days on the counter. It was a small batch of 5 but they all developed and hatched beautifully. The temperatures you were storing at sound better than mine, I'm sure you should have good results with those if you manage to get some good fresh eggs.

It's wonderful you managed to hatch that little bub despite all the trouble with those eggs. Good luck with the little one!

 

[OneFowlMama]

Good luck with the next batch when you do try again! When I set my last batch of eggs our house was on the warm side (around 24 degrees Celsius dipping to around 21 at night) and I had the eggs sitting for up to 6 days on the counter. It was a small batch of 5 but they all developed and hatched beautifully. The temperatures you were storing at sound better than mine, I'm sure you should have good results with those if you manage to get some good fresh eggs.

It's wonderful you managed to hatch that little bub despite all the trouble with those eggs. Good luck with the little one!

This is the shell bub popped out of, the 8 is the number she/he was in the batch but it was measured on the day we placed it into the incubator which to me seems quite a bit larger than the photos you showed especially if it was meant to be 5 days since lay. From what I remember it was also the smallest air cell in the bunch with largest being around 3mm wider.

Bub is out of the Bator now and snuggled up under the heat lamp after pecking around at the food and being shown where water is, she/he is absolutely full of strength and lots of noise! I think we're going to do just fine but I doubt I'll be sleeping too much lol! Thank you again for all the insight and support, it's really helped me out beyond words, Ive gone from being too scared to try again to feeling pumped and ready to hopefully birth some more bubs next time around!

 

[LynnaePB]

I see what you mean, that air cell does look quite a bit bigger than a 5 day old one to me, (I'm definitely no expert though).

I'm so glad to hear your little bub is doing so well, I can relate about the sleep I've had a singleton hatch once or twice.

With my single chicks I put a little mirror in the brooder along with a small stuffed animal (that didn't have any long hair the baby could get tangled in). That seemed to help a lot until I managed to get some chick companions.

I'm so happy the insight was helpful, I can only imagine how frustrating and disheartening it would be to have your first attempts hatching go so roughly. It's truly a joy when you get a good hatch, I'm so glad you'll be looking forward to the next one, I hope the third time is the charm!

 

[OneFowlMama]

Just an update on little Winnie, he/she is just over 2 weeks old now and is doing amazingly well! It's incredible to see how big they've grown in such a small amount of time! I managed to track down the breeder whose eggs I purchased on social media, they were advertising the same dozen eggs on the 2nd of October, I purchased them at the markets on the 13th, so they were ATLEAST 2 weeks old!! I knew they were the same eggs by the markings on the shells. I'm pretty mad about it but also relieved to figure out it was old age that rendered the other 11 eggs unable to develop and not something I did wrong, I'm also so proud that somehow Winnie held in there despite all the obstacles!

I purchased 2 doz guinea fowl eggs from a different breeder at the markets last weekend, currently on day 2 in the lambo Bator. I couldn't really candle due to their shells but I'm hoping they're not old, some of them did have a smell but they were very well priced so it's worth the gamble in my books. Fingers crossed when Winnie moves out the brooder a gaggle of guineas move in! Thank you all again for your support and information, my chicken empire might've started with a whisper but here's hoping in 2020 it goes off with a bang!

 

[LynnaePB]

View attachment 1964274

Just an update on little Winnie, he/she is just over 2 weeks old now and is doing amazingly well! It's incredible to see how big they've grown in such a small amount of time! I managed to track down the breeder whose eggs I purchased on social media, they were advertising the same dozen eggs on the 2nd of October, I purchased them at the markets on the 13th, so they were ATLEAST 2 weeks old!! I knew they were the same eggs by the markings on the shells. I'm pretty mad about it but also relieved to figure out it was old age that rendered the other 11 eggs unable to develop and not something I did wrong, I'm also so proud that somehow Winnie held in there despite all the obstacles!

I purchased 2 doz guinea fowl eggs from a different breeder at the markets last weekend, currently on day 2 in the lambo Bator. I couldn't really candle due to their shells but I'm hoping they're not old, some of them did have a smell but they were very well priced so it's worth the gamble in my books. Fingers crossed when Winnie moves out the brooder a gaggle of guineas move in! Thank you all again for your support and information, my chicken empire might've started with a whisper but here's hoping in 2020 it goes off with a bang!

Thanks for the update, Winnie is just adorable!

I'm glad you were able to confirm the age of the eggs as well, I'm sorry you were sold such old eggs!

Good luck with the guinea eggs, I hope they hatch well for you!

 

[Cazook]

not sure if this is the right thread to post all this - what was a small comment has turned into an almost full story of my first hatching.

i lost a chick that had externally pipped in a similar way as OP. its beak seemed wet. i don't know if it was due to another hatched chick running around the incubator (was waiting on it drying out before moving to brooder and at one point it ran into the pipped egg and moved it onto its side). on further examination the pipped egg seemed like the chick had pipped into yolk. either that or too high humidity in the incubator - though 5 others hatched successfully in the end.

one of the others did need assistance to escape its egg (i think humidity dropped from having to open the lid too many times) so it was unable to unzip the egg as the inner membrane prevented its movement. after waiting for 'too long' in my opinion i carefully removed it from the incubator and chipped pieces of shell around the side (checking closely for any blood - but the yolk had absorbed successfully). now that shrinkwrapped chicken is twice the size of the other chooks - maybe that's why it had such trouble getting out of the egg?

i think there were problems with the incubator either in temp or humidity though. one death, one shrinkwrapped, and two chickens that hatched had splayed leg (fixed them with a bandage hobble - they are fine now) i don't know if that's a normal amount of problems to have or i did something wrong. 12 eggs initially - 5 did not develop at all (assuming non-fertile) and were removed.

from the 7 fertile eggs - 1 externally pipped and died, 2 hatched with no issue, 1 shrinkwrapped, 2 hatched but with splayed leg and the final remaining egg failed to pip at all even though there was a dried formed chick rattling around inside the egg. i should've opened it to find out what happened to it, but i was already a bit sad about the drowned chick.

 

[LynnaePB]

not sure if this is the right thread to post all this - what was a small comment has turned into an almost full story of my first hatching.

i lost a chick that had externally pipped in a similar way as OP. its beak seemed wet. i don't know if it was due to another hatched chick running around the incubator (was waiting on it drying out before moving to brooder and at one point it ran into the pipped egg and moved it onto its side). on further examination the pipped egg seemed like the chick had pipped into yolk. either that or too high humidity in the incubator - though 5 others hatched successfully in the end.

one of the others did need assistance to escape its egg (i think humidity dropped from having to open the lid too many times) so it was unable to unzip the egg as the inner membrane prevented its movement. after waiting for 'too long' in my opinion i carefully removed it from the incubator and chipped pieces of shell around the side (checking closely for any blood - but the yolk had absorbed successfully). now that shrinkwrapped chicken is twice the size of the other chooks - maybe that's why it had such trouble getting out of the egg?

i think there were problems with the incubator either in temp or humidity though. one death, one shrinkwrapped, and two chickens that hatched had splayed leg (fixed them with a bandage hobble - they are fine now) i don't know if that's a normal amount of problems to have or i did something wrong. 12 eggs initially - 5 did not develop at all (assuming non-fertile) and were removed.

from the 7 fertile eggs - 1 externally pipped and died, 2 hatched with no issue, 1 shrinkwrapped, 2 hatched but with splayed leg and the final remaining egg failed to pip at all even though there was a dried formed chick rattling around inside the egg. i should've opened it to find out what happened to it, but i was already a bit sad about the drowned chick.

Sorry to hear you had problems with your first hatch, congratulations on getting 5 little ones though!

From what I've read about splay leg it seems like it can be caused by several different things. I always put down a non slip shelf liner when hatching to make sure I don't cause splay leg due to having too slippery of a flour in the incubator. Too high of temperatures during incubation or temperature swings could be an issue, as well as possible vitamin deficiencies/poor nutrition in the parent stock or possibly even genetics?

With the wide range of problems you ran into it's hard to try to pinpoint what might have been the issue (for me anyway). If you haven't already I'd definitely recommend getting a reliable thermometer/hygrometer to check temperature and humidity for your next incubation. I'd also make sure to candle and track air cell progress several times during incubation and adjust humidity levels if needed to get proper air cell growth. If everything is spot on with incubation conditions it could possibly be an issue with the parents health/nutrition, I've noticed a marked difference in hatchability from different egg sources myself (assuming the eggs were fresh, old eggs could definitely be a problem as well).