Strange air pocket in candled egg

[lorlcopter]

Hi all, I'm looking for some community input on the candling of an egg. I am letting my broody hen sit on four Marans eggs in a part of an outdoor coop that is separate from the other hens but open to the ambient air. Tonight marked the end of day 18, so I candled the eggs under her. The ambient humidity where I am located has been about 30% for the past two weeks, so I was expecting fairly large air pockets. Three of the four eggs had similar-looking and large but reasonably sized air pockets. Below are photos of the pocket on the fourth.

The fourth egg's pocket is noticably larger than those of the other three: I would say the other three averaged 25-30% smaller. That, and the fact that the distribution of the totally opaque material is somewhat different from that of the other eggs makes me think the chick in egg no. 4 might have expired. What do you experienced hatchers and candlers think? Any input would be much appreciated!

Of course, I put the egg back under the broody and am keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

Alright, this is a shot in the dark, as it seems a bit early... But what are the chances that egg has already internally pipped?
Trying to be optimistic here as no one likes a quitter!
Though I've heard marans can be tough to hatch...
Ryn.

 

[lorlcopter]

Hello SavKel, thanks for your reply. Internal pipping is certainly a possibility, but I had a hard time distinguishing the movement of the embryo from any movement I might have accidentally imparted to the egg while holding it. If not internally pipped, do you think it's a quitter?

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

If not internally pipped, do you think it's a quitter?

If you have four "sister eggs" and three look the same and one has a larger air pocket... I'd say internal pip, then reach more for an idea that maybe it was not as well covered by the bird and possibly less humid?! And hold onto those ideas until the other three were born and dried and then, maybe, i would say quitter. I generally dont like giving up on them as long as i can.
Ryan.

 

[lorlcopter]

Ryan, thanks for your thoughts. I am on board with you to just let nature take its course and see what happens. This is my second incubation (and first under a broody) and I’m sure you know how intense the anticipation with these things can be. Anyway, I checked the eggs a few hours ago and it did not seem that any had pipped, although I did not examine every egg very closely because I did not want to disturb the broody unnecessarily. I checked with the breeder from whom I purchased the hatching eggs and she confirmed that in low-humidity hatches (which she recommends for her Marans eggs because the extra pigment slows the loss of the eggs’ internal moisture) pocket size tends to be large but can also vary substantially among viable eggs hatching in the same environment. I will keep everyone here updated on the outcome of the hatch over the weekend.

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

That is great news!
We had our first pip early this morning, working slowly... I don't expect it to come out until tomorrow.
Our third incubation through the robot. Still growing our chickens so we can't try the broody bird yet, but i think that will be my next incubation. We have enough chickens that I'm good for a while!
Ryn.

 

[Alaskan]

too hard to tell for me....

I would just wait and see.

 

[lorlcopter]

Since I promised an update by end-of-weekend, here it is:

I had 9 hatching eggs - the aforementioned 4 under the broody and another 5 in an indoor bator. I decided on this distrubtion because my broody is a juvenile Ameraucana, only about 8 months old, and I was worried she lacked the mass to be able to incubate all 9 of the eggs consistently. Over the past 26 hours, 7 of the 9 eggs have hatched - three under the broody, and four in the bator (each of which was moved under the broody under cover of darkness). The last egg in the bator pipped this afternoon. Incidentally, the egg whose air pocket I was concerned about (and which was mentioned in the first post in this thread) hatched, and one of the three eggs with pristine-looking pockets appears from candling to contain a quitter, although I moved that egg to the bator just to be sure and to free up some room under the broody.

Nothing like freshly hatched chicks!

 

[SavKel&RynKel]

Congratulations!
I'm glad that one ended up coming out!
Told you I'm all about the optimism!
We currently have 6/8 hatched with number 7 pipped and shaking. It's a good weekend to be a chicken hatcher!

 

[lorlcopter]

Awesome! Congratulations!