Reject Hatching Eggs - aka "The Undesirable Egg Experiment"

[CluckNDoodle]

The Experiment is Complete!

A recap:

- Hatch 3/12/20: 91% (started with 12, 1 infertile, 1 quitter, 10 live chicks)

- Used Version 2 Nurture Right incubator, 99.5°F, 40-50% (usually 45%) humidity for the first 18 days, increased to 65% for hatch.

- A total of 7 of the original 12 eggs were "undesirable" and 5 hatched!
- 2 Oblong Eggs - Both Hatched!
- 2 Porous Eggs - Both Hatched!
- 1 Sticky Eggs (thought to be egg white leakage) - Hatched!
- 1 Calcium Build Up Egg - Clear/Infertile
- 1 Cracked Egg (repaired with wax) - Quitter on approximately day 15-17 due to bacteria or from the amount of wax needed to cover large crack preventing proper gas exchange.

----- Original post -----

Things got a bit more interesting as I was getting ready to set these Olive Egger eggs in my incubator. 1 egg is cracked, 1 egg has some sort of sticky substance on it (I nearly couldn't get it out of the carton), 2 eggs have a lot of calcium build up, 2 eggs are shaped like torpedoes, and 2 eggs are very porous.

These were given to me by a friend so I know she didn't notice. It has been raining heavily every day and it's likely that she was trying harder to keep them dry than anything else. I happen to also know she takes really great care of her chickens, so I'm curious how it will affect the hatch. All of my incubators are empty (as of last night) and I think I'm going to set these "undesirable" eggs anyway as a bit of an experiment to see what happens!

So the first thing I need to decide before setting any of them is how I will seal the cracked egg. I would love some opinions! I most recently heard that nail polish works well, I've also seen wax, tape, and even boiled membrane from another egg used to seal the crack. Which methods have been successful for everyone or what would you like to see me try? At this point I'm really just experimenting on these reject eggs to see if we really should be throwing away so many oddball eggs or if they will hatch without issue.

These misfit eggs all look so innocent at first...and then I started to take them out to candle them before putting them in the incubator.

 

[julskinka]

Things got a bit more interesting as I was getting ready to set these Olive Egger eggs in my incubator. 1 egg is cracked, 1 egg has some sort of sticky substance on it (I nearly couldn't get it out of the carton), 2 eggs have a lot of calcium build up, 2 eggs are shaped like torpedoes, and 2 eggs are very porous.

These were given to me by a friend so I know she didn't notice. It has been raining heavily every day and it's likely that she was trying harder to keep them dry than anything else. I happen to also know she takes really great care of her chickens, so I'm curious how it will affect the hatch. All of my incubators are empty (as of last night) and I think I'm going to set these "undesirable" eggs anyway as a bit of an experiment to see what happens!

So the first thing I need to decide before setting any of them is how I will seal the cracked egg. I would love some opinions! I most recently heard that nail polish works well, I've also seen wax, tape, and even boiled membrane from another egg used to seal the crack. Which methods have been successful for everyone or what would you like to see me try? At this point I'm really just experimenting on these reject eggs to see if we really should be throwing away so many oddball eggs or if they will hatch without issue.

These misfit eggs all look so innocent at first...and then I started to take them out to candle them before putting them in the incubator.

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I successfully used melted wax on a salmon faverolle and a cream legbar egg last year. But the other two eggs that I also attempted to repair didn't make it, quitting somewhere between D7 and D14, IIRC. So..... I'd say you've got a 50/50 chance, per my statistically insignificant n of 4.

Also - the cracks were much slighter on the two that made it, so presumably no damage to the contents of the egg. I don't know how much damage that large crack you have portends.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I successfully used melted wax on a salmon faverolle and a cream legbar egg last year. But the other two eggs that I also attempted to repair didn't make it, quitting somewhere between D7 and D14, IIRC. So..... I'd say you've got a 50/50 chance, per my statistically insignificant n of 4.

Also - the cracks were much slighter on the two that made it, so presumably no damage to the contents of the egg. I don't know how much damage that large crack you have portends.

Thanks! It is a pretty bad crack but I'm guessing it happened when a hen laid the egg in an empty wooden nest box, so maybe not to much damage and there isn't any leaking so the membrane is still intact. I have plenty of candles but I think they may all be scented. I wonder if that would cause an issue? There's no telling what they put in there to make it smell like apple pie...

 

[julskinka]

Things got a bit more interesting as I was getting ready to set these Olive Egger eggs in my incubator. 1 egg is cracked, 1 egg has some sort of sticky substance on it (I nearly couldn't get it out of the carton), 2 eggs have a lot of calcium build up, 2 eggs are shaped like torpedoes, and 2 eggs are very porous.

These were given to me by a friend so I know she didn't notice. It has been raining heavily every day and it's likely that she was trying harder to keep them dry than anything else. I happen to also know she takes really great care of her chickens, so I'm curious how it will affect the hatch. All of my incubators are empty (as of last night) and I think I'm going to set these "undesirable" eggs anyway as a bit of an experiment to see what happens!

So the first thing I need to decide before setting any of them is how I will seal the cracked egg. I would love some opinions! I most recently heard that nail polish works well, I've also seen wax, tape, and even boiled membrane from another egg used to seal the crack. Which methods have been successful for everyone or what would you like to see me try? At this point I'm really just experimenting on these reject eggs to see if we really should be throwing away so many oddball eggs or if they will hatch without issue.

These misfit eggs all look so innocent at first...and then I started to take them out to candle them before putting them in the incubator.

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Also, if any of these hatch, those are their names, you realize.

 

[julskinka]

Thanks! It is a pretty bad crack but I'm guessing it happened when a hen laid the egg in an empty wooden nest box, so maybe not to much damage and there isn't any leaking so the membrane is still intact. I have plenty of candles but I think they may all be scented. I wonder if that would cause an issue? There's no telling what they put in there to make it smell like apple pie...

Personally, I'd avoid the scented candles. Even if they don't have some kind of toxic gunk in them, I'd hate to have my whole room smelling like "eggy-apple-pie." I think I just used tea lights, but if you don't have those, maybe you could melt a crayola crayon? If they're safe enough for my toddler to eat (and boy, does she), they've got to be ok on an egg.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Also, if any of these hatch, those are their names, you realize.

LOL! Yes! I have a Salmon Faverolle that I just hatched. Her name is officially "Bubbles" because I tagged all of her photos with Bubbles rather than, "the detached chalazae/floating blob".

 

[julskinka]

LOL! Yes! I have a Salmon Faverolle that I just hatched. Her name is officially "Bubbles" because I tagged all of her photos with Bubbles rather than, "the detached chalazae/floating blob".

And of course that is a perfect name for an SF. I can just see mine (very originally named "Sam," which is also my husband's name), trundling across the yard like a fat fluffy demented T-Rex mixed with a golden retriever. "Bubbles" is perfect.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Personally, I'd avoid the scented candles. Even if they don't have some kind of toxic gunk in them, I'd hate to have my whole room smelling like "eggy-apple-pie." I think I just used tea lights, but if you don't have those, maybe you could melt a crayola crayon? If they're safe enough for my toddler to eat (and boy, does she), they've got to be ok on an egg.

You know what, I just remembered this weird unscented candle that my daughter gave me for Christmas a couple years ago...it's about time it found a use, lol.

 

[hysop]

I’d love to see how they turn out! When are you setting them in the incubator?

 

[CluckNDoodle]

I’d love to see how they turn out! When are you setting them in the incubator?

Tonight! I'm just finishing up patching up "Crackles" the cracked egg.