Safety holes for small air cells?

[chickfused]

I have one egg with a very small air cell, and another egg that was near-scrambled during shipping and actually has _2_ air cells. Happy, moving, well veined chick, 100% certain not a gas bubble. Both are small, well stabilized, and I figure it was one air cell originally that split from shipping damage and reattached in two places (side and where it should be). As a result, both are too little to be functional I fear.

For both of these eggs, I'm wondering, should I put safety holes in the small air cells before lockdown? I'm near-certain there won't be enough air in there if they internally pip at day 19 for them to finish using up the yolk and for the one with 2 cells, I'm not sure which it will choose, if any.

 

[sourland]

I have no experience with shipped eggs, but am concerned that too early 'safety holes' might result in shrink wrapping. Hopefully someone with more experience will respond.

 

[chickfused]

I think they could survive if they internally pipped while I was sleeping, but I'm not sure we'll make 24 hours. I'm trying to balance getting their air holes bigger while not screwing up their buddies who are progressing normally. Lockdown will start early Friday morning or late Thursday night.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

The air cells are not going to get bigger at the end of incubation. There is only drawdown.
It's too late for the air cells.
Safety holes without an inner membrane pip will die anyway, so you will not be doing it any favors.

 

[chickfused]

I still have 5 days left of normal incubation and I'm running at the lower end of the humidity band - around 40-45% to help them but not screw up the guy with the ginormous cell. I'm not sure why we're assuming they won't pip internally, they seem happy and healthy. They have air cells, but I just don't think enough for 48 hours of internal breathing.

I'm asking if I should pre-drill a safety hole knowing that I'll likely be going into lockdown with small cells for these 2 eggs so as to avoid opening the incubator during lockdown.

 

[ladybrasa]

The only thing I can think of is to just be available to monitor. I requested off a day of work to watch mine the last 2 years and still had problems! (I was also learning and there were other factors too). Very nerve wracking! You can open the incubator during lockdown to assist, but you must absolutely have a way to get humidity back to where it was quickly.

EDIT: I can’t say I’m crazy experienced, in theory the safety hole sounds okay, but shrink wrapping is a concern and can also kill the chick if you can’t monitor regularly.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

I still have 5 days left of normal incubation and I'm running at the lower end of the humidity band - around 40-45% to help them but not screw up the guy with the ginormous cell. I'm not sure why we're assuming they won't pip internally, they seem happy and healthy. They have air cells, but I just don't think enough for 48 hours of internal breathing.

I'm asking if I should pre-drill a safety hole knowing that I'll likely be going into lockdown with small cells for these 2 eggs so as to avoid opening the incubator during lockdown.

Safety holes without an inner membrane pip will die anyway, so you will not be doing it any favors.

 

[chickfused]

Why do you keep assuming they won't pip internally? I don't understand. Bolding and underlining the same sentence repeatedly isn't truly helpful I'm afraid. Might you offer some other words of advice and kindness?

 

[Painted Calls]

You wanted to put safety holes in at lockdown. Regardless of internal pip. BB&T was trying to tell you that you shouldn't put in a safety hole before they internally pip. She wasn't saying they wouldn't pip.

 

[chickfused]

Ah ha! Got it. So there's no way to do it ahead of lockdown is what I'm hearing, I have to get in there and mess about during lockdown for these 2 eggs after they pop through.

I'm glad there are some nice people here! Thank you so much!!