What do you think happened??

[Jennn27]

OK...so, I have one hatchling that just hatched today. Perfectly healthy!! I have another I am watching..looks promising. I have yet another that I thought was gonna hatch, but this morning it just cracked open and then nothing happened. I mean...it never moved, chirped...nothing beforehand. It smelled a bit "off", but I let it ride. Then my healthy baby hatched, and I had to bring the humidity back down to up the chances of my other egg (which is still doing well). So...I look at this egg, with its ginormous crack down the side and funky smell and think..well, it's probably dead. I start to chip away at the sides of the shell, and they just pop off.....just fall off of the membrane!! Half of the eggshell is gone and the membrane is still intact and I see feathers!! I candle and see no movement (and don't forget the funky odor), so I decide, with a heavy heart, to go ahead and see what happened. I break the membrane open, and there's no blood..it doesn't stick to the chick......nothing, but a sadly "gone" chick. The yolk sac was completely absorbed...no excess blood. And it was a completely formed chick. I'm dumbfounded. What happened??? Did it possibly suffocate??

 

[RubyNala97]

Are you doing a staggered hatch? What day was that egg on with the chick that didn't make it? Chicks don't make it for all kinds of reasons. If the egg had an off smell then my guess would be that the chick had an infected yolk sac and probably died after it absorbed it but would not have made it either way. Sometimes everything can seem perfect and the chicks still die before hatch. enjoy your healthy baby!

 

[Jennn27]

Yes, it was/is a staggered hatch. An infected yolk sac makes sense, though. Thank you! I am enjoying my healthy chick. It's doing great!

 

[Jennn27]

Oh and as far as the hatch day....I have no clue. This was an egg I popped in my bator that the hen outside gave up on. But it was in there for over a week. So I know it was healthy up to that point.

 

[RubyNala97]