Large oblong air cell (saddled?) in shipped eggs?

[Susan Skylark]

Sorry no picture, we’re in lockdown! I have a batch of shipped quail eggs, half of which didn’t develop or died early. Of the survivors over half have a large oblong air cell. I incubated affected eggs upright wide end up and upped the humidity but not too optimistic it did much, chicks are alive but not sure they’ll hatch. Is the term for this saddled? Any ideas on cause (besides generic shipping trauma), prognosis, and treatment (if any), just curious if anyone has dealt with this.

 

[Debbie292d]

I only get those from shipped eggs, and yes, that oblong air cell is called saddled, I guess because it resembles one?

Most of mine hatched fine. A couple didn't turn to pip from the side, so after the others hatched, I candled to try find their head, then used a wooden handle of a kitchen utensil to break the shell near where I could see their head. I peeled some of that back away so more of its head was exposed, then left them alone, and they hatched.

 

[Susan Skylark]

A little fuzzy but you get the idea, two chicks hatched, most pipping or otherwise showing signs of life, this is one of three lifeless eggs that water candled dead, tomorrow is official quail hatch day and shipped eggs seem to hatch later too so things are looking up!

 

[Susan Skylark]

Saddled eggs can hatch, but they are a sign of shipping trauma and probably mean your overall hatch rates are likely to be south of 50%, and prognosis for individual eggs is impossible to say. In this batch I had 50% of eggs that went into lockdown hatched, half of which had saddled air cells but chicks died in normal eggs and hatched from saddled eggs seemingly at random, overall hatch rate 11/30ish viable eggs. Dead Chicks were weak, underdeveloped, little to no down, most just faded away on hatch day, pipped or unpipped. Shipping is a gamble but sometimes necessary, and it is good to remember that eggs are amazing and can still hatch even after going through crazy stuff, time to focus on the survivors rather than the dead ones.