Weird odor coming from egg... Cull? ACK! Think I killed a chick! :(

[eac04]

I turned my eggs this morning when a horrible smell attacked my nostrils! I put my nose down to the eggs and was able to identify the culprit. There wasn't as much movement in it (I'm not even sure I saw any movement) as I've seen in others. Could it be a residual smell from egg-laying or do you think it's gone bad? I'm trying not to toss eggs until day 14 when I should see a definite difference between eggs that are still developing and those that have stopped, but would hate for this ONE rotten egg to ruin the batch. What to do?

Please advice on what to do... Thanks in advance.

..::UPDATE::..

Well, I took out the egg and after letting it sit on the counter, my curiosity got the best of me... I cracked it.

I looked at the dead baby chick inside and it looks like it stopped developing on day 8. It looked like this -->

I feel SO AWFUL.

I feel like maybe if I had left it in there it would have kept developing but it just smelled SO AWFUL. Maybe this culling business isn't for me. I'm gonna leave that part up to DH from now on.

 

[hippichick]

I had one blow up in my bator a couple of months ago, and it was an awful smell that filled the entire house.

These eggs had only been in for about a week, and I know they were fresh eggs, as they came from my birds. If it were me, and knowing that smell all to well, I'd pull it. It's not worth ruining your entire hatch for one egg.

 

[Grampa with chickens]

Quote:
I agree..........Pull it.

 

[FF]

Definetyly pull it. I had one do tha but it didn't explode that was a horrible horrible odor. It was a live chick at one time but evedentally had somekind of bateria and died. Definetely pull it.

 

[FortWorthChicks]

I read a post about a rotton egg, take a ziplock bag to put it directly into from the bator. Ewwww... you don;t want it to explode!!!!!!!!!1

 

[eac04]

Thanks y'all. I've pulled the egg and will be placing it inside a ziplock bag for disposal. I'm real curious as to WHEN they stopped developing but I don't think I want to deal with the smell of it all.

THANKS AGAIN!

 

[ClairedeLune]

Eeeeeeww.

 

[Serrin]

Quote:
You could attempt a necropsy with the egg sealed in the bag. It might give you a better insight as to why that one failed. If you're that curious that is. Even from the safety of a Ziploc, I think I'd still do it outside, and additionally, I'd put it in a second Ziploc just to be on the safe side. Even Ziplocs can fail!

 

[eac04]

..::UPDATE::..

Well, I took out the egg and after letting it sit on the counter, my curiosity got the best of me... I cracked it.

I looked at the dead baby chick inside and it looks like it stopped developing on day 8. It looked like this -->

I feel SO AWFUL.

I feel like maybe if I had left it in there it would have kept developing but it just smelled SO AWFUL. Maybe this culling business isn't for me. I'm gonna leave that part up to DH from now on.

 

[Karrie13]

I can't see your picture from work but... if it smelled then there was not any hope of it developing fully. It probably would have exploded and potentially killed your other developing eggs.

I know it is hard but sometimes something that has to be done. I went through the same thing with my last hatch. Imagine opening up 20 eggs to see fully developed chicks that internally pipped but died. That is what I went through. I think my issue was a humidity issue. Maybe it was to high.

You did the right thing.