Question about infertile/dead eggs in the incubator

[Bananas]

Hi, I need some advice from some of you seasoned veterans:
I'm new to incubating, I've got my first hatch in the incubator and they're at 14 days.

I've read that if you leave infertile or dead eggs in the incubator they can explode and contaminate or kill the other eggs. Is this true?
If so, how long can they remain in the incubator before there is a danger of blowouts?

I have candled all the eggs. I am pretty sure I have an infertile egg in my batch, and another one that died about a week ago. However, I am terrified of throwing them out in case I am mistaken and the eggs were live.
I am also terrified of them exploding and killing my other babies.
What a dilemma!
Somebody please help!!!

 

[Cuban Longtails]

As long as you keep an eye on it, they should be fine. Will you be regularly candling every so often? If it turns bad, you'll know because it starts becoming discolored and just black looking inside the egg.

 

[Bananas]

Yeah, I've been candling them every 3 days or so. The one that's dead appeared to be developing like the others for the first week, then the veins disappeared and there's a dark red ring halfway down the egg that none of the others have.
The other one is just clear, nothing really going on inside.
Differences have become more apparent now that I'm on day 14 and the other eggs have big black moving chicks and clearly developed veins.

Still, I could never forgive myself if I killed an egg that turned out to be viable.
You think for my peace of mind they will be ok if I leave them in there until after the other eggs hatch as long as they don't start turning black?

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Yes, it will be fine to leave them. However, you're pretty safe to remove them if the clear one has been clear for 14 days or so and the other that died doesn't show any further change. The dead embryos that create blood rings are usually the ones that will rot. Pick up the egg on occassion and smell of it. If it starts to stink, it definitely needs to go.

Same for the clear/infertile one.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I waver too when throwing them out. I think what you are seeing with the ring is a blood ring. That one is safe to just toss (although I have been known to put them in a ziplock bag and then toss them). With the others, I always ere on the side of caution as well. If anything starts seeping or is stinky then toss it. Otherwise they are fine to just leave in there. I always have some left after hatching is over that didn't develop for one reason or another. I will caution you about tossing them after the hatch through. You really, really want to either seal them up good before throwing away or you want to throw them on the compost heap from way, way away. Trust me on this one. I had one explode on me as I was putting them on the compost heap and it was about the nastiest smell EVER!! Took days before I didn't smell it on me (and that was after a couple of good scrubbings. I think it burned my nose hairs off or something.

)

Good luck with your hatch!

 

[onthespot]

Toss the blood ring ones. Don't candle so much. It can actually kill the embryos from too much stress. I just candle around ten days, and eighteen. If somthing smells funny, sniff the eggs until you find the stinky one and take that one out. Stinky eggs don't hatch and could explode. Good luck with the rest of your hatch! Post pics when you have babies!

 

[NYREDS]

In my experience chicken eggs are unlikely to explode in the incubator. Duck eggs & Guinea eggs on the other hand need to be candled carefully & removed quickly if there's a problem. I've had a Duck egg explode in my hand while I was removing it. Take my word for it-that will ruin your day.

 

[Bananas]

Thanks everybody, you guys are great! I feel much better now

I am such a nervous mother!

I will definitely post pics of my babies when they come!

 

[Tailfeathers]

Hi,

I would agree with what's been said so far. Cuban Longtails hit the nail on the head.

I would just like to add a couple of things. I would recommend you NOT candle every three days. Every time you open that incubator, you are changing the temp and the humidity. It does make a difference.

Also, I candle at 12-14 days. Any eggs that candle clear at that time are pulled from the trays. Same goes for eggs that clearly have a blood ring though I don't see that very often. But I don't toss them. I crack them open in a bowl, microwave them, and then feed them back to the chickens and ducks. I usually mix in a little powdered milk and maybe some feed. They love it and I don't see any reason to let them go to waste.

I recently experienced a power outage and had my first poor hatch. Figured the outage probably had something to do with it. I left the chicken eggs in for 24 days and never had a problem. When I cracked one of them open, I actually found the embryo had stopped developing right around day 5 or 6. The very time that the power went out. So it was dead almost a full three weeks by the time I pulled it and I had no problems with it exploding.

Hope that helps.

God Bless,

 

[Bella the Chicken Lover]

Is it possible that you're able to leave an unfertilized egg in the incubator for 4 days, and still able to eat it?