Safety hole turned into eggtopsies...advice

[Ruby Rogue]

I hatched 8 chicks over the last 2 days. The 3 that were left were candled and didn't look viable but I was going to leave them for a couple of days anyway just to see.

I did a safety hole in the first egg and could immediately tell that the chick's body was in the air cell. Odd because I didn't see this when candling. I chipped a little away, gave it a few nudges, it was dead. Picked a bit more shell off a little at a time just in case.... She was fully developed, but facing the pointed end of the egg. Her yolk sack was fully absorbed, why would she give up without even trying to pip?

The next egg I did the safety hole and picked a little off (this egg also did not look right when candling). When I brought it out of the shell it looked like it had quit a few days ago, yolk sack still in tact...

On to the last one. Which I have attached photos of. This one looked the same inside as the last one except there was a lot of liquid moving around. So much that I thought the chick might be alive and breathing but upon inspection it was also dead but with lots of liquid. I didn't open the membrane of this one because I smelled a faint odor and I didn't have the stomach for it, but it was definitely deceased. What was this liquid?

Humidity was relatively low during incubation and steady 65-75% during lockdown. Temp maintained at 99-102. Eggs rotated throughout the incubator every 2 days, turned 3 times daily.

What does this look like to you all regarding when it might've quit and why they might've quit?

 

[Kiki]

What was your humidity at throughout and has your humidity gauge been salt tested?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

I didn't add water at all during the first 18 days and it was not really monitored. I saw it at 19% once and 30 but didn't really watch it. I had 3 humidity gauges that read around the same, and had no trouble with dry membranes during the hatch. I could tell when the window fogged up after adding hot water and the humidity gauges spiked to 90 that it was probably close to spot on. It only stayed high like that for a very short time..less than a few minutes.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Do you think the liquid was rotting egg juice?

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Anyone have any advice?

 

[Kiraeh]

It's pretty normal I think for the chick to push into the air cell as drawdown happens- although the size of the air cell seems to grow, it doesn't make sense for the amount of air in the egg to double or triple, the chick moves to fill some of that space but because it isn't tight against the shell it still looks clear. Even more so for a malpositioned chick, who would still need to push against the shell to hatch.

Was the chick in the egg with the liquid full grown? My first thought would be that it quit a little while ago. I just had one die after pipping internally and it had a thick yellow liquid in with it too. I suspect bacterial infection as it was a washed egg incubated with unwashed ones. Since you had a smell, perhaps that's your culprit too.

 

[Ruby Rogue]

Thank you for your insight!

I suspected that the one with the liquid had quit a few days earlier, along with the one I opened up that was quite a bit smaller than my hatchlings.

I feel sad for the malpositioned chick she was perfectly fully formed, absorbed her yolk sac, just never attempted a pip.

Again, thanks.