Help I think I may have killed it

[Fr3shfarmer]

So I had a chicken egg that I was putting on lockdown today. I saw no movement and was just dark so I did what someone on the site suggested and water tested it. Well it suck and so I took that to mean it was a bad egg. I wanted to see if there was anything that I did wrong and was told to crack it open and see if there was anything wrong. Well I did that and I opened it all the way and the chick was still moving there was a little yolk left and so I did what I thought best I cleaned it up and put it back in the incubator. Did I kill the baby by doing this? This is my forst egg to hatch. And I was being a worried first time parent. I will never do that again till I am sure it is way past hatch chances. Any advice is helpful.I don't see any movement now but it has drawn its legs to its chest.

 

[Pyxis]

Well, if it was moving when you cracked it open, then it was alive. If it's no longer moving now then yes, it did die because you cracked the egg open

Going forward, don't water test until the egg is well past the hatch date and also don't crack eggs open until they are very late, like beyond day 25, unless you are 100% certain they are dead.

Also, I don't trust the water test at all because anything it can tell you, candling can also tell you. And it can make you think live eggs are dead, as is what happened here.

Sorry you lost the chick

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I have no clue if your little bird will make it, hopefully it will. I'm not even sure why the "float test" is a popular cure all for eggs. I never heard of it until this site, and will never use it. Candling and an exploratory hole seems a better option to me. I've had eggs hatch as late as day 22, so I generally don't consider any goners until after day 23.

 

[Mylied]

When I feel a chick is dead in the egg, I crack the big end in the air cell. Then poke the chick a few times. You won't kill a live chick that way. They've been dead in my experience, but I figure it doesn't hurt to be cautious. I've also never used the float test. I candle and look for movement and/or veins.

You can touch the chick to see if it's dead, but it sounds like it. They curl up when they die. I accidentally killed a new chick before too. It's always a hard lesson.