Question re: egg changes during lockdown? *PICS*

[TinaK]

Hi all! I'm just one of the many first time hatchers that are incubating at the moment.. and I have a question. Well make that 2 questions!

1. My incubator floor (paper towel) has become wet since lockdown due to the water seeping out of my 'water wick' (cloth shoved into jar). Is this going to harm my hatch?


2. I think I have a bad egg.....

I have 4 duck eggs remaining in my bator. I last candled on Saturday night and saw definite movement in 3 eggs.

I went into lockdown last night (Sunday) at 9:00pm (19 hours ago). One of the eggs has started to develop a strange black patch on it's shell. My humidity is sitting at around 80% and temp is around 37*C.

The last egg that I had which started to change colour was removed & found to be very rotten (it had never seemed to be viable)... but this egg with the new patch (shown below) is one of those that was only moving 2 days ago.

First - a patch started to develop on the egg. A faint grey coloured one (circled in red below). I first noticed this yesterday evening just prior to lockdown.



Then this morning when I woke up at about 6am I noticed a grey ring has started to form around the dark patch (blue arrow).

This photo shows the egg without my marks

I had a power outage for over 24 hours at the end of last week (Thursday & Friday) but candled and saw live eggs on Saturday (12 hours after power was turned back on).

I'm worried that this egg is going to burst or do something evil? Does anyone know what this patch may be? As I am in lockdown, I do not want to open my bator under any circumstances. What would you more experienced hatchers suggest?

 

[Sphinx]

Ok, take this with a huge grain of salt, as I am definitely not an expert.

But, if it had movement two days ago, and was therefore alive recently, I don't think it WOULD explode. I think worst case scenario is a dead chick. If it wasn't lockdown, I'd say candle it to see what's going on.

Meanwhile, I'll sit back and see what the real experts say.

 

[TinaK]

I really wouldn't think that it would explode either considering it was alive only a day or so ago...but hey I'm paranoid! I wish I wasn't in lockdown & could candle it.... but I probably wouldn't be sure of what I was looking at anyway!

I wonder if anyone will be able to tell me what the discolouration is... and why it is forming!

 

[TinaK]

Anyone else? I've been searching google and can't find anything similar

 

[whytedragon]

I'd leave it..if it was alive recently, it probably won't explode..especially if its a chick in there and not just liquid.
It takes awhile for an egg to become so rancid that it'll explode (not pretty)..and you'd be risking the other eggs by opening the bator.
On a personal note, and you can make your own decisions about this..i've never had a problem opening my hatcher UNTIL the first pips begin..as long as I get the humidity back up ASAP with some hot water. But if it were me..i'd leave it alone and let the others hatch first.

 

[beckstar]

I am having a very similar thing happen - but it is definitely alive and is definitely a duckling! I noticed strange darker discolorations on one of my eggs last night. Lockdown was today. I decided to candle the egg to make sure nothing had died, and it was moving around like crazy in there! Pushing up hard into the air cell like it is trying to bust. It is a little early for that tho, so I hope it is ok if it does decide to come out now!

Today the egg is rocking and the little discolored parts are actually moving, it's almost like I can see into the egg when the duckling presses up hard enough against it. Anyone else ever hear of this?? Any ideas on if it will/should be ok?

Thanks! Not sure if I helped set your mind at ease at all, but please let me know what happened with yours!