Should I keep incubating damaged egg?

[Rena]

Hi friends,

I have some eggs in an incubator and candled them for the first time today. One egg is clearly fertile but seems to have some damage/shell weakness on one end that is not visible unless you candle it (I didn't think to candle them before I put them in the incubator). It just looks like areas where the shell is very very thin and the light shows through much brighter in these areas. It also has a small crack in the middle of that area that is visible when you candle it- enough to actually let light directly through, though the crack is tiny (maybe 1/2 cm). This has to be either a defect in the egg itself or damage caused by one of the hens picking on it, because I've had the egg in my possession since it left the next box and it hasn't been dropped or anything.

Should I bother trying to keep this one alive, or is it a lost cause? Should I put something over the crack (I'm reading nail polish, wax, tape, etc) and/or over the entire end that seems damaged? If so, what would be best in this situation?

I apologize for the bad photo, it is hard to take pictures of candling!

Thanks for any advice!

 

[cmom]

I would let it be. I had an egg with a thin shell and I cracked it picking it up to candle. I put it back in the incubator and it did hatch. I did put some liquid band-aid lightly on the crack.

 

[CrestedGirl]

I would keep it in there. One of my eggs had a crack in, I put some duck tape on the cracked area and it hatched. Here is a pic of the chick/s. It is the one on the right

 

[CrestedGirl]

and

 

[Rena]

Thanks everyone! That makes me feel much better. I just didn't want to leave it alone and have it explode or pose any risk to the other ones I have in there.

It seems like, from poking around on here, people are saying that broken eggs can still hatch as long as the membrane is still in-tact; but how do you know if it is or not?

Thanks again!

 

[Czech's_chicks]

I would leave it until you notice it is starting to rot, then it can explode. Just took one from my broody that I noticed was cracked last week. The chick stopped developing so I removed it, otherwise I was going to keep my fingers crossed for it.

 

[hdowden]

leave it i just hatched one today that upon futher inspection (around day 10 and growing) i noticed it looked like it was pecked at. it did very well and like i said has hatched and is a strong little chick

 

[cmom]

Want to say

 

[OldChurchEggery1]

I only candle once at 10 days, so if you can resist the temptation to handle it again, I'd leave it be. Make sure your humidity stays on the dot, though. With a thinner, porous shell it may day more quickly than a properly shelled egg.

 

[MamaMarcy]

I would put a very thin and small coat of Elmer's Glue on the crack itself, but not the entire thin end of the shell (it needs to breathe thru the shell). It'll help seal & strengthen the opening, especially from bacteria entering thru the crack. If the inner membrne itself is cracked you're likely to see leakage.

I have an Indian Runner egg who I dented & cracked half way thru incubation (dent is the size of a large pea with 2 cracks coming off it). Elmer's glue has patched him up and he's only a week till hatch now and growing strong!!