what does a weeping egg look like?

[anniemary]

Still have massive problems with my hatching eggs.

Situation: 5 broody hens on clutches. We've had lots of dead baby chicks, either pecked to death or exploded in the nest. We've saved six and are raising them ourselves in the brooder away from the other chickens. And we have separated the mamas from the others.

The first hen started laying on April 1st. It's now April 29 and we haven't seen a chick born in 48 hours. Someone told me I should remove the eggs, so I did.

When I brought the eggs inside, I heard peeping!!

I candled all the eggs. Several had bacteria rings, so I removed them. Several had big dark masses with light areas on the bottom, and other were completely dark, including the one I heard peeping. I had a hard time seeing/interpreting my candeling efforts, though.

So, I put the dark masssed eggs in one nest and the completely dark eggs in another. Only one hen came back to the nests so I gave her the clutch where I heard the peeping. Worried about the other abandoned eggs, I brought the others inside to hatch in a makeshift incubator. The temp is 99.5.

A few hours later I heard a pop. One of the eggs exploded!

How can I tell if the others will explode? What does a weeping egg look like?

PS One of our rescued babies looks like she has bumblefoot or a gangreen foot. Now I am REALLY FREAKED out about bacteria all over the place. I'm about ready to burn down my coop! (just kidding, but really, I'm concerned about my nest boxes, my brooder, etc.)

This has been a HUGE downer for me, what a mess.

i'm a bad chicken mama.

 

[paddock36]

If the egg is weeping you will see little drops of fluid, like teardrops, seeping from the egg.

 

[elmo]

Also, isn't there usually an odor that goes with seeping?

 

[clothdiaperingmom]

I had an egg that was oozing. I actually thought my 5 yr old had been in the bator with jelly on her hands. So I wiped off, put back. Next look, there was more and I knew that wasnt right. Then another egg started. That one did smell bad.

Ive had 2 more eggs in a recent clutch that were oozing, but it was more clear or yellowish then the 1st 2.

 

[paddock36]

Depends how long before the egg started to seep. I have had eggs that seeped due to a small crack that was not visible until the egg was put in the incubator. Those don't usually smell. Then I have had others that didn't start to seep until towards the end of incubation and those usually do have odor.