Smelly Eggs in Incubator ~ Day 18 (no explosions!)

[mediazeal]

Day 15: I have 10 Maran eggs in the incubator.
Three had been crushed in shipping and coated the rest. I was afraid to wash them and wash off the protective 'bloom' so I wiped them down and then let them rest etc before putting them in the incubator.

I can not tell by smell if there is a bad egg(s).

Candled at Day 7, these eggs are DARK. 9 for sure babies moving around in 11 eggs. 1 maybe and 1 clear. I tossed the clear one.

I tried to candle again. It's too hard to see. I see air cell, and dark.
1 or 2 eggs I think think have a detacted aircell. I think I see fluid level (as in leveling, not less fluid) changing as I gently tip the egg to an angle. Is that a dead egg? It's dark in most of it like there is chick in there.

Does that mean that some might have died and I am soon to be exploding eggs?

How awful does a bad egg smell? I have mildly smelly eggs as you might imagine they would smell with old egg glaze having touched the outside of the shells.
It is not overpowering. It is not noxious. It is a little smelly.
Now I really wish I had gone ahead and at least wiped them down with something damp instead of dry towels when I got them.

So all of you with exploding egg experience, can you tell me how bad it smells BEFORE it explodes? Should it be the rotten sulfer smell? This is just old and warmed up smell, not spoiled and icky smell.

Would the smell pre-explosion make me jerk my head away? or is that only after the disaster?

I dont' want to find out the hard way and I don't want to pull viable eggs. We only have a few more days left til chicks! and I know they were live at day 7.

thanks for you help

 

[Dirt Road]

I'd recommend you just hang in there. While an egg can blow up in less than 3 weeks, it doesn't really happen that often when you think about how many eggs are being incubated at any given moment.

Jim

 

[MoodyChicken]

As long as they're not oozing I think you're ok. Oozing eggs have a lot of pressure inside them and are ready to blow.

 

[mediazeal]

Thanks folks
I'm relieved. I will watch for oozing.

 

[panner123]

If the eggs are not in a turner you can place a paper cup over the eggs. This will keep the mess of a bad egg from getting on the other eggs. Most of the time I would say give your eggs to day 24, in this case don't. Any eggs not move by day 22 toss.

 

[mediazeal]

Day 16: Paper cups is a good idea
I wonder if I can find any that dont' have wax on them. They are in a Brinsea 20 so there is not much headroom. I assume you take the cups off on day 20 incase the chicks want to hatch.

Is it too late to run a damp cloth over the eggs to wash off the egg glaze that I hope/believe is what is causing the smell? or will that just push ick into the egg and take away whatever protection the eggs have?

 

[panner123]

Washing the eggs will cause you more problems.
cut the cups to size if you have to. You should be on day 17 if I figured right, tomorrow or the next day you should see movement and hear pips. Take the cups off those you see moving. Try to remove the hatched chicks as soon as they are dry and fluffy. This will keep them from bumping into the other eggs. I know this is a bad time to open the bator, but an exploding eggs is worse. Hopefullly the only mess is what is on the outside of the eggs. If you don't have a brooder ready, look at some of the homemade ones here. Or take a big box and cover it with 1/2" wire stapled to 1 x 2" boards. Place a heat lamp over it. Make sure you don't have it to close to the chicks. It will get HOT. Place the light on one end of the box, this will let the chicks more to the heat if they get cold and away if they get to warm.

 

[mediazeal]

Ok, thanks very much for the great guidance
The eggs are in an egg carton now with holes in the bottom. Worse case I can cut up another egg carton to be little hats on the eggs
(autoturner is external to brinsea)

I learned last hatch that I could open the brinsea fast to get the fluffy chicks out and the humidity and temp got stable again in moments after closing it, so I will follow that advice as well.

No egg washing
thanks very very much

 

[mediazeal]

Day 17: One end of the incubator seems to have the most smell. I can not tell which or if all of the 4 eggs in that end are especially aromatic.
So I put little paper cup hats on all 4 of them (6 with no hats and decidedly less smell)

Can they breath ok from inside the hats? I cut tiny X's in the dixie cups, no wax version. Has anyone hatched from eggs that had to wear hats before?
[added 5/14 ~ no one has responded that they have successfully hatched live chicks from eggs they put paper hats on, so I guess I will let you know if either of my 'party eggs' hatches]

The eggs are standing in egg cartons with holes cut in the bottoms under each egg. I'm just 4 days from hatch and I want them to get enough air. I dont' want to suffocate them with egg carton below and dixie cup paper hats above when I know at least 3 of those had babies in them.

There are only 10 eggs in the incubator and 9 of them had life in them for sure during candling at day 7. They are dark eggs and I could never really see anything except dark when I looked at again at day 14 (Maran eggs) like a chick starting to use most of the space.

Remember, my eggs got coated with broken egg in shipping and I'm hoping that is the fishy vs rotten smell I am getting after 17 days of soaking up the heat.

 

[mediazeal]

Day 18: No explosion yet.
I candled this morning and SNIFFED each egg carefully.
The eggs are dark both shell and inside. So all I see in dark and aircell. The last maran I hatched out looked like this, so I'm hoping for the best. None of them are seeping.

8 of the eggs are only mildly smelly from the splash of crushed egg in shipping. So these are not wearing paper hats.

2 others have the most odor though they do not smell rank or rotten, just fishy. They are moved to one end of the egg carton they are all in with empty space next to them and paper dixie cups over them.

One of them is my 'maybe' egg, could not confirm life in it but its not clear and seems to be developing with dark (hopefully chick) inside
the other one definately had a baby in it at day 7 and has filled up darker like the rest

Hoping for a non-explosive hatch in a few days!!!