Repairing And Hatching Severely Damaged Eggs--This WORKED!

[Velvet Sparrow]

Since 2008 we've been webcasting our annual spring chicken egg hatch, called Chickam. While every year seems to have some kind of dumb drama with the hatch, this year was a whopper.
The big one was due to an accident with the incubator racks, all of the eggs and equipment took a very bad fall on day 15 of incubation. Luckily, only one egg was damaged--but very badly.
I looked up egg repair online, and found a poultry abstract with instructions on how to repair cracked eggs. I figured it couldn't hurt, and tried it.
What turned out to be vital was to use the right materials--clear school/craft glue, and PAPER medical tape (not cloth!). I used Micropore surgical tape. I think the paper tape allowed the egg to exchange oxygen correctly.
I posted all about it in my blog, with pictures, technique and a link to the abstract. Maybe this will help someone else who has damaged eggs. All I can say is, I didn't really expect it to work, but it DID!
https://jackshenhouse.blogspot.com/2024/06/year-16-of-chickam.html

 

[GodLovesU]

Wish I could’ve found this about three years ago. My dad dropped an egg and it cracked. He thought it was hopeless.He dissected it so of course I freaked out.

 

[Velvet Sparrow]

Wish I could’ve found this about three years ago. My dad dropped an egg and it cracked. He thought it was hopeless.He dissected it so of course I freaked out.

I may just have lucked out due to the stage of incubation my egg was at--any earlier, and the chick may not have survived.
Yeah, necro'ing eggs is nasty...but you gain knowledge that way, so it can be very important.

 

[Ashmarie621]

I may just have lucked out due to the stage of incubation my egg was at--any earlier, and the chick may not have survived.
Yeah, necro'ing eggs is nasty...but you gain knowledge that way, so it can be very important.

I just had my incubator roll and smoosh one pretty badly, day 17-18. I can’t tell if the membrane is in tact but I’m guessing not since one of the fractures has a bit of goo leaking out. Do you think it’s possible to save?

 

[Velvet Sparrow]

It can't hurt to try! My egg was leaking blood (I assume because draw-down had yet to occur) and it hatched.
But that egg DID fool me--No peeping/rocking/pipping. The chick just pipped, unzipped, and hatched in the space of about 2 hours while I was asleep!
So yeah--I'd give the egg the full benefit and the time to hatch. If it goes bad in the meantime it will start to ooze or smell bad, I think...
Good luck!

 

[Ashmarie621]

Thank you. I’m just about to toss it as today is hatch day and I can’t see any movement other than some definite liquid was moving around. Should I wait a little longer?

 

[Velvet Sparrow]

I always give my eggs a day or so beyond hatch date, just in case one is a slow starter.