Will My Cracked Egg Still Hatch?

[suzettex5]

So, here's my story, I'm hoping for some advice......
I have a Maran doing the natural hatching thing, she's been sitting on her 8 eggs for about 17 days now. I have candled all the eggs and they all have lots of movement and seem about the same size (the embryo inside)
My problem is, yesterday around 3 in the afternoon, we took the eggs out for a final candeling look, and my 2 year old son somehow managed to snatch one of the eggs from the basket, and before I could stop him, he kinda banged the egg on a shelf. It got a cracked dent the size of the pad on my thumb and some hairline cracks that went almost halfway around.
The dent had some raised edges that were raised up and kinda seperated from the egg, but no pieces of the shell fell off, and there was no leakage from any cracks. I felt horrible. I did immediatley put clear nail polish on all the cracks, and then I just put it back under the hen. I figured if it was gonna die, it would do so overnight. But today when I checked it (candled it) to see if it had died, it was still moving a lot. Should I let it stay under my hen? I'm worried it will contaminate my other eggs. The nail polish is not where it would be pipping, so no danger of it getting trapped if it was to survive. Does anyone think it has a chance of hatching and did I do the right thing in terms of repair? Thanks to all who have advice!!!

 

[CindyS]

Thats exactly what I would have done, I have had to repair many eggs and I use nail polish (not clear though, its a bright pink)

, I had a bantam egg hatch a few weeks ago and it had to zip right through the polish and it didnt have any trouble at all! I think your egg will be fine!

 

[Teresaann24]

With my eggs that have had cracks I have used candle wax and on day 18 I removed the candle wax. So far I have had wonderful hatches from eggs fixed this way.

 

[suzettex5]

Thanks for your responses, I feel better about its' chances now. Guess its a waiting game now since I'm not positive about their age, just thrilled all 8 are showing life still!

 

[suzettex5]

I think its cool you used pink polish, btw! I was wondering if colored would be ok, its good to know color works just as well!

 

[kelseygirl707]

Yup, I cracked an egg pretty bad on day 11 I believe, and it hatched just fine.

LOL, I wondered if the baby would be able to get through all that wax, but it did!

 

[suzettex5]

WOW! That is some serious wax! Soooo glad to see how resiliant our chicks and eggs can be! I almost gave up on the egg and was gonna crack it open to see the developing chick, but somehow i just couldnt do it, just got a tip on this site to use nail polish or wax (didnt have any wax) so I figured if it was gonna die, it would do so overnight with its momma and I could check it in the morning either way. The damage just seemed to much to me for it to make it, but this morning it was kicking and squirming in response to the light, so needless to say, I was sooooo happy and felt a little better. The nervous nellies wont totally dissapear till I see a fluffy chick though!!
BTW, the mom is a Maran and the Dad is a Buff Polish, so I cant wait to see the babies of that crazy mix!!

 

[jans1181]

Read this thread when I had all but given up hope for an egg that was badly cracked. My mistake, I didn't check under hen's wings before I lifted her off nest to feed. It was day 16 of incubation and it happened in front of my young daughter. Both of us assumed that it was curtains for the little chick inside.

However, I thought I'd give superglue a try and let it dry off in the airing cupboard before putting back under broody. Searched and searched internet for similar stories then finally found this one, which gave me some hope (although wished I'd read it first and tried wax which sounded less permanent!).

Anyway, today we were blessed with all our eggs hatching, the first to emerge was from the damaged egg (have now left family in peace now that I feel less guilty).

 

[Cherlyn]

Congrats on the successful hatch!

I have a serama egg which is cracked and now partially covered in wax. I so hope he/she makes it!

~Cherlyn

 

[jans1181]

Thank you and good luck with yours. This is the first time we've tried hatching eggs and the children are fascinated, so glad we had a happy ending, now going to leave the new mum to do her job.