Advice for hatching twin embryos in one egg? Lockdown tomorrow..?

[Telekinetichicken]

*Edited to add a video of egg in question and a photo of one of the other eggs in the incubator to show how much farther along the other eggs look (third photo)

Ok so I started incubating my silkie eggs 10/17 so they are about to be on day 16. Silkies tend to start hatching a bit early for me so I was going to start lockdown tomorrow night or Thursday morning. I just candled them as I haven’t recently, everyone looks great except for 1 egg.

So the egg in question looks to be developing much slower, it looks like an egg that should be on day 12 or something? Also I’ve never seen this before so im not sure if I'm just a dingus and interpreting it incorrectly but it looks like there’s two separate embreyos on each side of the egg?? They both have veins around them and are both wiggling around like normal. I took a video but I think I can’t post videos on here idk sorry but I’ll post screenshots from it of both embryos.

It looks like twins right? Or am i crazy lol. One is on each side of the egg like directly across from one another. They’re both alive and moving around.

I have another incubator should I move this guy (guys) into it on their own and keep turning it for a few more days / until it looks more ready to lock down, if it survives that is

Have any of you hatched a twin egg?? What are its chances of both babies making it?

 

[Telekinetichicken]

I just candled again and the embryo has not made it, stopped moving and veins drained and pooled. Rip
Should I open it up and report back to see if it was actually twins or just some other anomaly?

 

[007Sean]

It's hard to tell if there is 2 embryos developing in a still photo....a video would definitely be helpful in determing if there is 2 embryos!

Most of the time, 99.9% the embryos will not develop to hatch. Usually, one will die and that is a death sentence for the remaining embryo....plus there just isn't enough room in the egg for 2 to develop.

 

[007Sean]

I can see why you think it's twins but I don't think that egg will develop a chick. Looks to me like it's already on the decline.

 

[Kiki]

I added a video you can see what’s going on better in there. And I mentioned this in a previous reply to someone but I counted the day I put them in 10/17 as day 1 as I did so around 5am I believe.. it’s currently 3:45am on 11/1 so in about an hour they’ll have been in there exactly 16 days. If you don’t count the day I put them in, then it would be 15.

It looks dead to me.
Are you sure you aren't seeing movement caused when you are moving the egg?

 

[NatJ]

I can see why you think it's twins but I don't think that egg will develop a chick. Looks to me like it's already on the decline.

It looks dead to me.
Are you sure you aren't seeing movement caused when you are moving the egg?

With the photos and the video, it will be easy to compare in a few days. Live chicks should grow quite a bit over the next few days, while dead chicks will not grow. So as time passes, the difference becomes more and more obvious.

If it actually died a few days ago, that would explain why it is less developed than the other eggs (they kept growing, and if it died it did not keep growing.)

 

[007Sean]

With the photos and the video, it will be easy to compare in a few days. Live chicks should grow quite a bit over the next few days, while dead chicks will not grow. So as time passes, the difference becomes more and more obvious.

If it actually died a few days ago, that would explain why it is less developed than the other eggs (they kept growing, and if it died it did not keep growing.)

At day 16 of incubation you shouldn't be able to see much inside the egg....a few veins near the air cell and possible some movement but the egg should be mostly dark by this stage in the incubation process.

 

[Telekinetichicken]

The most common counting method I see is based on how long the egg has been in the incubator.

So when you first put them in, they have not been in for any amount of time.
One hour later, they have been in the incubator for one hour.
24 hours after they went in, they have been in the incubator for 24 hours.
By one week later, they have been in for one week. At that point you are on the same day of the week, same time of day, as when they went in.
Scientific writeups of chick development use this method, sometimes even talking about development at specific numbers of hours.

October 17 was a tuesday.
So 7 days was on tuesday, October 24, at the same time as they went in.
14 days was on tuesday, October 31, at the same time as they went in.
15 days is on wednesday, November 1, also at the same time as they went in.
21 days will be on tuesday, November 7, still at the same time they went in, and is when they are expected to hatch (although they can actually hatch earlier or later, this is the typical "hatch on day 21" day).

If you were to count the day they went in as the first day in the incubator, then you would expect them to hatch on the 22nd day (after being in for 21 days, they are starting their 22nd day of incubation.) But that is not how the most common numbering system goes for hatching eggs (although people certainly use it for some other areas of life, like January 2 being the "second day" of a new year).

Counting the day as 1 or 0 based on whether you put them in during the morning or the evening would be a way of dealing with the fact that people think a "day" starts at a certain time, while the actual "day" for the eggs starts from the time they go in. For deciding which date (on the human calendar) to lock down and to expect chicks, that probably works well enough, given that eggs can frequently hatch an entire day early or late rather than really doing it all at once.


Yes, that is definitely a difference.


Since it's only one odd egg, I am inclined to suspect something with the egg and not the incubator, but I don't know of any way to be certain at this time.


I see why you think it might be twins. I don't have enough experience to be sure one way or the other.

Thank you for explaining! That makes a lot of sense, I’ll start counting it that way for future hatchings.
I’m going to get some more thermometers though and check my incubator for hot or cold spots cause I can’t count that out as a possibility or at least a factor.
And yes I’m not sure, but if/when he dies I’ll definitely open it and see what was going on in there. The two spots seem to move independently which is why I assumed there’s two, but it’s possible there’s one that might just be deformed or in a weird position I suppose!

 

[Telekinetichicken]

At day 16 of incubation you shouldn't be able to see much inside the egg....a few veins near the air cell and possible some movement but the egg should be mostly dark by this stage in the incubation process.

I agree, and the other eggs in the same incubator all look how you described, at the correct level of development. I’ll check on the suspicious egg again over the next few days to see if it dies or develops more, for sure. Would be lovely if he keeps developing and I get a miracle hatch but I’m not counting on it

 

[Telekinetichicken]

It looks dead to me.
Are you sure you aren't seeing movement caused when you are moving the egg?

Thanks. It’s not dead but appreciate the sentiment.

I’m unsure if you read any of my responses to some of the other replies, but I stated it was moving around vigorously before I took the video. It’s pretty easy to tell the difference between the movement of a live embryo squirming around and a deceased one moving as you move the egg, which I’m sure you can agree with. I understand why you asked though considering the video clip I posted.

Having said that, I know the egg looks suspicious and is far behind the others in development, so I’m not counting on it making it much farther although it would be nice if it does somehow! At the time I took the video moments before I started recording at least, it was alive and distinctively squirming around as I stated lol