January 2023 Hatch-a-long

[WallyG74]

I almost always do eggtopsies so that I can learn what's happening.

Definitely good practice.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

Dark is normal, but that egg just didn't hatch.

Yes, but it didn’t even have a visible air cell. I candled a few of the eggs a day before they hatched, and the ones that successfully hatched did have air cells visible, save for a dark spot or two where I thought they’d internally pipped. This one has no air cell, so i’m just wondering if it meant that the chick internally pipped but didn’t hatch.

I almost always do eggtopsies so that I can learn what's happening.

I’m a bit hesitant, as i’ve never done an “eggtopsy” before, unless you count cracking open a half formed egg in a dusty bowl outdoors, but I may try that tomorrow. Does it require precision? Where do you crack open the egg so as not to damage the chick’s body?(just so i’m not affecting it in any way, and I can get an unaffected view on what went wrong).

 

[3KillerBs]

Yes, but it didn’t even have a visible air cell. I candled a few of the eggs a day before they hatched, and the ones that successfully hatched did have air cells visible, save for a dark spot or two where I thought they’d internally pipped. This one has no air cell, so i’m just wondering if it meant that the chick internally pipped but didn’t hatch.

I’m a bit hesitant, as i’ve never done an “eggtopsy” before, unless you count cracking open a half formed egg in a dusty bowl outdoors, but I may try that tomorrow. Does it require precision? Where do you crack open the egg so as not to damage the chick’s body?(just so i’m not affecting it in any way, and I can get an unaffected view on what went wrong).

I just take the egg and a bowl out into a well-lit part of the woods behind my house, crack the egg normally in a gentle fashion, and examine what I find.

Then I leave the chick for the wild animals rather than just throwing it into the trash. That way I feel that it's brief life serves some purpose, however small.

 

[FunClucks]

I have some questions about failed eggs. Just checked the 3 unhatched because they hadn’t pipped; one was half-formed, the second had veins and didn’t appear to make it to maturity.

The last cell was wholly dark. Like; didn’t even have an air cell. Does this mean the chick had internally pipped but was just unable to hatch? I haven’t cracked them open, i’m unsure if I should or will, but that was my first thought when I candled it. So, is that what a completely dark egg means?

I went to candle my last egg, and it was entirely dark. Then I realized it had externally pipped and I had missed it - I was staring at a poking out piece of shell while holding the egg in my hand thinking "what's that? Oh! it's a pip!". So I put that egg back in the incubator really fast. I was worried I'd messed it up, so I used a large drill bit in my hand (it had a small sharp pointy bit on the edge - all the screws I had were too dull) to make a safety hole by opening up the external pip a bit to see what was going on/ensure the chick had air. Sure enough, it was swallowing and moving its beak a lot and breathing. It hatched about 24 hours later without assistance and was fine.

For the eggs that were delayed/didn't hatch, I used that drill bit to scratch a small hole in the air cell end. I peeled back the shell and membrane carefully to see what I could of the chick. When I saw a large air cell and lots of fluid and blackness, and no movement, I realized they were dead, so I took them outside and opened them up so I could do an eggtopsy to see how far along they were when they died. Helped me feel better knowing it wasn't anything I did at the end of incubation that caused them to die. I like to put safety holes so I know I'm not sitting there for two days waiting on a dead egg.

I'd recommend eggtopsies so you can see what's going on. If there's something wrong with the chick that I think I might have contributed to, I can try to correct it next hatch, or chalk it up to random chance and not my fault.

 

[FunClucks]

Yes, but it didn’t even have a visible air cell. I candled a few of the eggs a day before they hatched, and the ones that successfully hatched did have air cells visible, save for a dark spot or two where I thought they’d internally pipped. This one has no air cell, so i’m just wondering if it meant that the chick internally pipped but didn’t hatch.

I’m a bit hesitant, as i’ve never done an “eggtopsy” before, unless you count cracking open a half formed egg in a dusty bowl outdoors, but I may try that tomorrow. Does it require precision? Where do you crack open the egg so as not to damage the chick’s body?(just so i’m not affecting it in any way, and I can get an unaffected view on what went wrong).

It could have been trying to pip out the wrong end, or internally pipped and got malpositioned and couldn't breathe and died. No telling until you do an eggtopsy.

I've only done a couple, but I basically followed the instructions in the Assisted Hatching article to create a safety hole on the air cell end, then peeled back the shell. What you find should tell you what's going on. I wouldn't stress about your technique too much -it's not like you're going to hurt the chick.

 

[CSolis]

Day 22, 4 of 5 have hatched. Air cell in #5 has increase quite a bit.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

I’ll give one final update. Sold 6 of the chicks I hatched today, and am left with 4 keepers(mostly because I don’t see how i’m gonna ever be able to sell a single chick at once). 3 red BC, and one mixed chick.
Oh yeah, the black mixed chick has also been named. Philberta, a wonderful mix of masculinity and femininity that is incredibly difficult to remember.

 

[3KillerBs]

The dreaded "red light and taken through the wire" photos.

My new phone is a bit better about pictures *through* the wire rather than pictures *of* the wire.

 

[I Like Turkeys]

The dreaded "red light and taken through the wire" photos.


My new phone is a bit better about pictures *through* the wire rather than pictures *of* the wire.

I've gotten a lot of those. Part of me feels like i've gotten good at avoiding the wiring of fence, but other times not so much.

 

[3KillerBs]

All 14 babies in good health on day 4. No pasty butt.

Photos from today and all further progress photos will be put into my 2023 thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-flock-story-2023.1561640/