Strange Egg In My First Ever Batch

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1stbatchhatcher

1stbatchhatcher

Hatching
5 Years
Nov 14, 2014
3
0
7
Hi. I'm incubating my first chicks ever. I've actually never had chickens before, only ducks and a neighbour gave them to me at five days old, so I've never hatched eggs before.
The batch was of 12 eggs and I got them via mail with 3 broken on arrival. This is day 14 and I only have 3 eggs left. I'm starting to think none of then will hatch.
When I did eggtopsies 4 of the eggs were green, one had a blood ring, and one had a broken air cell and some weird bruising on the side but no blood.
Now I just candled my last 3 and 2 seem to be good though one is a bit underdeveloped in comparison to the pictures I've seen. But on of the eggs is just.... I'm not even sure. It's as if there's a blood ring and then another one at the very top? I see one very slight possible blood vein but can't tell if there is a body in there which probably means it's bad by this point, right? I don't have a camera (sorry), but I was wondering if I should take the egg out or not?
Also,I'm trying two other batches of eggs right now (5 ducks at 14 days and 6 chickens at 10 days) and they've been developing perfectly besides one broken on arrival and one that hasn't developed (which I haven't taken out yet).
Anyways, I'm starting to get really anxious as the hatching time gets closer and am really worried about the one egg that I can't tell if it's bad. I'm sorry if this is long winded, but it's my first time and I was wondering if anyone has any advice for me?
P.s. the 3 chicken eggs from the batch of 12 are 2 bantam and one unknown (possibly silkie) and the one with the with the weird colouring is bantam.
Thank you for any help you can give me!
 
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If I were you, I'd hang on to that egg for a few more days and candle it daily to check for changes. Also, don't laugh, sniff it. Incubating eggs smell a bit like boiled eggs to me, but if it's off you'll know all about it. Unless it smells positively off, I'd wait on it a bit longer.

I nearly tossed a batch of eggs a few months ago that didn't look right to me, even on day 18 they didn't candle positive for development, but they all hatched on day 19-20! It just goes to show that candling can be a hit-miss way to diagnose, so I prefer to give them a chance. That being said, it sounds like some of the eggs in the batch got contaminated with bacteria and they definitely got handled rough on the way to you, so I don't know... You may get a miracle chick or two from this batch still
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I just went and sniffed it and it does smell a bit like boiled eggs. All but one of the others that I took out because they were bad had a smell that I've since positively identified as the 'bad egg smell' so I'll look out for that.
I'll leave them all in for now but should I put something over the strange egg in case it is off and explodes? Either way I'm going to keep turning it since there's still a lot of clear space in the egg.
Thank you for the advice!
Ps. For the type of chickens I have (bantam and possibly silkie) should I stop turning them at 16 or 18 days? I've read both.
I'm sorry for all the questions.
 
It is unlikely to explode if it's not showing signs of being off, but if you're worried, put it inside a bowl or something. I would keep turning them until day 18. It won't hurt the chicks if they hatch on the day you stop turning. Hatching chicks often roll eggs around in the incubator :) Fingers crossed you'll get something from this hatch
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Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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I agree with Sumi here. I would let them all go full term. I have never had an egg explode during incubation, but it is possible. You can also lay a paper towel over the egg just in case of put it in something as Sumi suggested. I have stopped turning eggs and had hatches later that day. So it won't hurt anything for the most part. When you stop turning the eggs it gives the chick a chance to get into position for hatching. However you can stop turning eggs up to 4 or 5 days before the hatch date with no problems. It is the earlier days in the cycle that it is so important to turn the eggs regularly.

Good luck and keep us posted!! :)
 
Thank you for the advice! I feel a lot better now. I'd started hovering around my incubator. I'll put an update on here whenever something happens. Hopefully it'll be good news!
 

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