Day 18... chick not filling whole shell. Is it dead??

[FolkSonginC]

Today is day 18 and when I candled one of the eggs, instead of filling the whole shell the embryo fills the middle part, with weird space at the bottom. Does this mean it is dead? Here is what it looks like:

 

[MysteryChicken]

Is there movement? If the baby is moving it's alive, if it doesn't move, it's probably dead.
You can tap on the egg shell gentley, while candling, if it responds with the taps by moving, its alive.

 

[FolkSonginC]

Is there movement? If the baby is moving it's alive, if it doesn't move, it's probably dead.
You can tap on the egg shell gentley, while candling, if it responds with the taps by moving, its alive.

I just tried that and it is definitely moving! Is the chick ok though? Does the extra space mean I've done anything wrong through incubation, and do you think it will be able to hatch?

 

[MysteryChicken]

I just tried that and it is definitely moving! Is the chick ok though? Does the extra space mean I've done anything wrong through incubation, and do you think it will be able to hatch?

No, it's a small chick, or a slow to grow chick. It doesn't mean you did anything wrong.

 

[PirateGirl]

I've only hatched under a broody, but if only one of your eggs has this large an air cell and you set them all at the same time I'd suspect it's just an anomaly with the growth rate of the chick or the porosity of the shell (especially if they have different parents). If ALL of your eggs have an abnormally large air cell I'd suspect that there may have been an issue with humidity at some point in incubation. As long as there's still movement, it's still alive, and I wouldn't worry too much at this point.

 

[Wezdin]

Dosen't look bad to me, How big is the air cell? As pirate said humidity and shell quality can play a big roll.If the egg was layed from an old hen that can cause the hatch to come late,thus the chick being smaller than usual.

 

[Kiki]

Do you have a calibrated thermometer in your incubator?

 

[FolkSonginC]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I wasn't clear enough, this is the small end of the egg, the air cell looks fine. This is the space at the pointy end of the egg, which is concerning me. I have only one other egg in the incubator that looks perfect, good air cell, fills whole egg. Both came from 10-month-old hens, but the one with the weird space at the bottom was more porous than the other egg... I havent hatched that many eggs but I've never seen an egg with space on the top and bottom like that. My thermometer is not calibrated

 

[FolkSonginC]

The air cell is a little on the small side so I'm not increasing humidity until tomorrow, day 19

 

[Kiki]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I wasn't clear enough, this is the small end of the egg, the air cell looks fine. This is the space at the pointy end of the egg, which is concerning me. I have only one other egg in the incubator that looks perfect, good air cell, fills whole egg. Both came from 10-month-old hens, but the one with the weird space at the bottom was more porous than the other egg... I havent hatched that many eggs but I've never seen an egg with space on the top and bottom like that. My thermometer is not calibrated

It's possible that this egg may be sitting in a slightly cooler spot and us a little behind.

I highly recommend getting a thermometer to calibrate so you can know exactly what temperature your incubator is running.