Rotten egg on day 21 - Help!

[ChickenLeg]

Thankyou I've had 3 hatch (1 in the night) and 4 pipped so still waiting for an appearance from them - how long from external pip can they take to come?. Once 6 hrs was up I quickly opened the incubator to transfer the chick to the brooder. I think next lot i'll keep at room temp next time I think see if I get a better success rate. I'm not very good at the candling side of it its hard to see whats going on in the egg arghh, there was some I questioned but it hatched. I only candled once as I was scared ill be doing more harm than good . Are the candling lamps you buy any good for candling? ive made a box with a hole and poke the torch up there .

Nice, congratz!

Well I still mess up after hatching hundreds of chicks, I sometimes make a mistake and toss a good egg, its always upsetting usually happens on dark ameraucana eggs.

I dont use this exact light but mine looks just like it, these cheap LED mini flashlights work fine for me, I think they make one with a rubber end and call it an egg candler. I just wrap my hand around the end and put the egg on the end if that makes sense.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bright-Min...hash=item4b308a545a:m:miZWE7XabVjFtDUWtPij72Q

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I might be wrong but I dont think you can hatch eggs that have been refrigerated. I mean if one hatched I guess you can but probably shouldn't. I'm pretty sure there supposed to stay at room temperature before incubation. Again I'm might be wrong.

The low limit of an egg remaining viable is about 40 Degrees F. Hatching eggs can be stored @ 55 degrees F. for up to 15 days. At day 15 only about half of the eggs that that old will hatch into healthy chicks, that is if you do your part. 75% humidity is not to high of a humidity to store hatching eggs @. Eggs should be turned during storage either 1, 3, or maybe 5 times per day. This keeps the fetus or germ from sticking to the inside of the membrane and dying there. Never turn eggs 2, 4, or 6 times per day because then you have returned the egg and the fetal disk to the same location it was in the morning and the risk of sticking overnight is increased. As a way to determine how important it is to turn eggs, the mother hen during incubation turns her eggs about 100 times per day. When the hen returns to her nest to deposit another egg, the first thing that she does is turn her eggs.

A chickens' fetal disk has a primitive eye of sorts that orients itself to the Sun. This is why turning your hatching eggs is so important.

 

[jonezjollyfarm]

The low limit of an egg remaining viable is about 40 Degrees F. Hatching eggs can be stored @ 55 degrees F. for up to 15 days. At day 15 only about half of the eggs that that old will hatch into healthy chicks, that is if you do your part. 75% humidity is not to high of a humidity to store hatching eggs @. Eggs should be turned during storage either 1, 3, or maybe 5 times per day. This keeps the fetus or germ from sticking to the inside of the membrane and dying there. Never turn eggs 2, 4, or 6 times per day because then you have returned the egg and the fetal disk to the same location it was in the morning and the risk of sticking overnight is increased. As a way to determine how important it is to turn eggs, the mother hen during incubation turns her eggs about 100 times per day. When the hen returns to her nest to deposit another egg, the first thing that she does is turn her eggs.

A chickens' fetal disk has a primitive eye of sorts that orients itself to the Sun. This is why turning your hatching eggs is so important.

Good to know! I'll keep that in mind. Thank you

 

[Mosey2003]

1 - you can store them in the refrigerator, but it will kill some of them. There's a theory that it will actually kill mostly male embryos. If you're trying for that, by all means, refrigerate a day or two. Otherwise, it's best not to refrigerate them.

2 - You need to be candling on day 17 or 18 and removing eggs that haven't developed, that will prevent these explosions during hatch time. If you have blue eggs, an additional candling on day 10 is not a bad idea, either.

 

[jonezjollyfarm]

1 - you can store them in the refrigerator, but it will kill some of them. There's a theory that it will actually kill mostly male embryos. If you're trying for that, by all means, refrigerate a day or two. Otherwise, it's best not to refrigerate them.

2 - You need to be candling on day 17 or 18 and removing eggs that haven't developed, that will prevent these explosions during hatch time. If you have blue eggs, an additional candling on day 10 is not a bad idea, either.

I wonder if that theory has been tested. If I didn't have chickens coming out of my ears already and bawl like a baby when I have to rehome roosters I'd test it.

 

[Mosey2003]

I wonder if that theory has been tested. If I didn't have chickens coming out of my ears already and bawl like a baby when I have to rehome roosters I'd test it.

The Australians did test it, and it did work. Not 100%, but enough to be statistically significant. There are some threads about it somewhere. You can also incubate slightly cooler to kill off male embryos. And the opposite is true, when I had my incubator running too hot I ended up with more males.
Here's the study:
http://www.publish.csiro.au/cp/AR9600664

 

[jonezjollyfarm]

I had read the one about the incubator but I thought they hand gotten conclusive evidence that it said it couldn't proven or disproved. But I also read it years ago and maybe mixing information with other studies I've read

 

[Mosey2003]

Yeah, sexing eggs is a completely woolly venture. I read a realllllllly old book a few weeks ago that claims the air sack placement will determine it, I plan to mark the next ones I set. But unless you're using the European UV light technology, you really can't guarantee.

 

[jonezjollyfarm]

I would be curious to know what you learn about air sac placement. And I'm going to look into this uv light thing!

 

[Mosey2003]

I would be curious to know what you learn about air sac placement. And I'm going to look into this uv light thing!

The book says that dead center is cockerel and to the side is pullet. The lady apparently got 100% success. I figure there must be some other factor, but it won't hurt me a bit to mark them before they go in, lol. It kind of doesn't matter to me anymore, as I need cockerels now too. Let me see if I can hunt up the book, it's archived online.