How likely is an egg to explode in the incubator?

[CarolJ]

I set 26 eggs last Monday. So today is day 7/8. I've candled them all - but this is my first time hatching eggs, and although I've looked at the photos here and videos on Youtube of candling - and I've read the candling threads here, I'm not always sure of what I'm seeing. I'm almost certain one has a blood ring? Should I go ahead and remove it now? I don't want to take a chance of an egg exploding in the bator - but then again, I'd hate to discard a viable egg if I"m wrong about what I'm seeing. I feel like such a novice with no experience in what I'm looking for. There are several eggs that look like there's nothing there but a dark shadow on part of the egg.

The white eggs are easy. The light brown eggs are fairly simple to figure out. However, the blue/green and dark brown eggs are confusing to me. I've got a really bright light I'm using - I'm taking them one at a time in a completely dark room. At first I thought I'd just leave them all in the bator for the full 21+ days - but then I read about exploding eggs contaminating all of them. So now I don't know what to do.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If you smell the incubator every day an throw away any egg that starts to stink then it wont happen.

 

[TinyChickenLady]

Quote:
Ditto. Don't throw if you don't know. Use your sniffer and you'll figure out very easily if they are bad or not.

 

[CarolJ]

Thanks! I just checked the incubator - and couldn't detect any off-smell whatsoever. So does that mean I'm safe from exploding eggs for at least another day?

LOL! I'm be sniffing the incubator all the time now.

 

[Gypsy07]

In quite a few years of incubating and hatching I've only ever had one rotten egg, and it didn't explode. It was under a broody hen, and she kicked it out of the nest. I've had loads of blood rings, loads of early quitters and loads of full term dead chicks, but in my bator none of them have ever gone rotten. It's a good idea to sniff-test every couple of days, but I wouldn't panic too much about it happening. I think the chances of getting a rotten egg are actually quite low overall. And the chances of it then exploding are even smaller...

 

[CarolJ]

Quote:
Thanks! That really makes me feel better - not nearly so anxious about it all.

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Ive only had one go Chernobyl on me but thousands that have gone bad. Your nose will pick it up way before its a issue. The one that got me was when I was not around for 3 days an when I did check I could smell it across the room...

It popped in my hand, in the kitchen, 3 feet from the door....

 

[brkuk]

I hatched 100's of eggs and 1 rotten one. You won't miss it, they smell like complete hell. Worst smell ever.

 

[TinyChickenLady]

I've incubated a lot of eggs and had 3 rotten ones. The others are right, you won't miss the smell when it happens.

I have a very strong stomach but that smell when the egg is opened up made mine turn for hours.

 

[CarolJ]

I candled the one that I thought had a blood ring on it - and according to all the photos I've seen, it was unmistakeable. So I opened it up - and it was just all very watery liquid - nothing resemblying an embryo at all.