Twin Silkie Cuckoo Egg Day Ten Double Yoker

[only1bgirl]

Second batch of shipped Silkie eggs six out of sixteen have chicks developing and one has two embryos in it. I was hoping for an extra chick in one of the possible quitters, be careful what you ask for, LOL! Anyway I really do not know what to do everything I've read so far looks like assisted hatching for these? As always any input is much appreciated!

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have had double yolkers, mine didn't make it past 12 days or so.

it is best not to help if you can I just keep an eye on them and when they pip make sure the chick in the point has a good air hole, but not too good the yolk is stored there.

when the chick in the end has his air hole don't rush to help, because normally a chick pips his inner air cell then breathes up that air for a day before popping an outer pip. but if they try to hatch out the pointed end they don't get that extra day of in the egg growth.

But I do also know a double doesn't have the room to turn around. my big guess would be get past day 19 think about game plan day 20, probably assist day 21.

 

[only1bgirl]

Thank you so much for your advice! First time hatching eggs and I'm nervous about this one egg and suspecting another one has two chicks too! So hard to tell with candling and they are so active at this stage. I've looked at a couple of different embryo development charts trying to gauge their possible size. Could a ten day old embryo stretch across the entire width of an egg?

 

[only1bgirl]

Neat photos thanks for sharing the size difference of the eggs, this is helpful to me because all the silkie eggs I have are of different sizes, even the ones marked with the same color of bird. I have been incubating them upright in a carton with the bottoms cut out on a tilt, should I hatch them in carton or remove them and lay flat? Their air cells appear to be stable now, they weren't when we received them via PO.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I have a silky frizzle cochin mix

she laid her first egg green

 

[only1bgirl]

She's a beauty! Nervous here candled those eggs again, three of them possibly are doubles, day 11. Thinking I need to really take a long look to establish if that is really happening, assuming it will be hard to tell in a few more days. I see two dark blobs instead of one in two cuckoo and one blue Silkie egg.

 

[only1bgirl]

Starting to see why doubles have high death rates, besides the hatching issue, looks like they are kick boxing in there.

 

[only1bgirl]

I need some experienced eyes to please look at the day 10 candle photo at top of this thread please. Does this look like twin embryos to you? My complete lack of experience is making me second guess myself, LOL! This is a cuckoo Silkie egg. Day 12 today and everybody is still kicking.

 

[only1bgirl]

Candled eggs day 14 and the three that looked they had double embryos are not showing any movement and the veins are not clear anymore. Should I remove them from the incubator? The three other eggs still have movement and clear veins.

 

[only1bgirl]

Day 18, still have six eggs in the incubator, three look good with veins and movement, 3 not so clear. I think I'm just going to let them be until hatch date, none are smelly or oozing. Supposed to start lockdown tonight not sure if I should go ahead with laying them on their sides? Air cells all look good.