Local Egg Experiment

[Zinjifrah]

Remaining eggs have been weighed, marked, and set into lock-down.

Current tally:
Twelve eggs set.
Three eggs culled, failed development, one with bacteria.
Nine eggs remaining, all with good veins.
I did not candle long enough to confirm movement in all.
Weight loss on some eggs is higher than projected, on others it is spot on.

Egg number, day one weight, day ten weight, day eighteen weight.
#1, 56g, 53g, 48g
#2, 63g, 59g, 56g
#3, 68g, 65g, 63g
#4, 69g, (Failed)
#5, 69g, 64g, (Failed)
#6, 67g, 61g, 56g
#7, 59g, 54g, 52g
#8, 59g, 55g, 52g
#9, 54g, 48g, 42g
#10, 47g, 43g, 39g
#11, 48g, (Failed)
#12, 65g, 59g, 54g

Projected hatch date is the 27th.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Unexpected development. Routine check to confirm temp and humidity were holding steady revealed a pip in egg #1. Hatch day isn't until the day after tomorrow.


Edit:
First pip, egg #1, 6/24/18 mid-afternoon.
Second pip, egg #8, 6/24/18 early-evening.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Second pip, egg #8, hatched 6/24/18 evening, about four hours after external pip. Unexpected indeed.

Chick looks good. Unfortunately, a decent photo is not possible given the humidity on the inside of the viewing port... and the fact that I was going to clean those today, to facilitate viewing, then noticed I had a pipped egg before removing the lid. It appears to be a black and white, feathered legs.

Edit:
Egg #6 pipped, wrong end, middle evening 6/25/18.

Edit 2:
I extracted egg #6 for a moment. Just long enough to open up the pip enough to ensure the chick was able to breathe inside. It is. Membrane oiled lightly and replaced.

Edit 3:
Egg #1 has hatched, 6/26/18, early AM. Approximately nine hours after external pip. Black and white, feathered legs. Chick looks good.

 

[Zinjifrah]

I made the judgement call to assist #6. Blood vessels were fully retracted from a white membrane as it was revealed. The chick was in the proper 'hatching' position, with its head under its wing. It was just at the polar opposite of where it needed to be, and did not have room to move inside the egg. Enough shell was removed to allow the chick to exit on its own; yolk was fully absorbed.

Yellow chick, appears healthy.

 

[Morrigan]

Thanks for the detailed account of your hatching experience. Really fascinating that you could tell the dead embryo by temperature.

I hope the wrong-ender makes a clean hatch.

 

[Zinjifrah]

Egg 8, Chick #1: 43g

Egg 1, Chick #2: 40g

Egg 6, Chick #3 is remaining in the incubator, resting. It appears to be well... and just got loud.

 

[C3 mommy]

Awh they look similar to my austrolorp crosses!!

 

[Zinjifrah]

Awh they look similar to my austrolorp crosses!!

They should be Cochin or Cochin crosses! Australorp is a possibility for the mother, though - the owner has an 'unknown black hen' that I suspect is one. They've got very nice fluffy little legs, and already want to be tucked into a pouch on my chest instead of tucked into their brooder.

Chick #3 is still resting, but has fully exited its egg. Fluffy legs there, as well. It seems extremely tired - I suspect its been fighting to get out all night. Without having broken the membrane at the air pocket, it was very tightly crammed into the small end of the egg, and obviously pipped directly to the outside.

 

[C3 mommy]

That is adorable!! Yea mine don't have the feathered legs but glad the little one is out and resting!!!

 

[Zinjifrah]

Egg #10 has pipped. Chick #3/Egg #6 is still resting, but is starting to move more. The first two are in the brooder, snuggling.

Current tally:

9 eggs to start with.
3 hatched.
2 pipped.
4 no visible pips yet.
Hatch day: tomorrow.

I would have left the first two in the incubator, except that Chick #1 seemed to think that Chick #3 needed encouragement rather than rest, and that the best way to encourage it was to stand on its head. While the sentiment may have been appropriate, I have to question the methodology.