Have these chicks passed away? (Inside egg)

[beckstaar96]

Hi all,

I've never incubated eggs before, so apologies if this is basic. My hen was sat on eggs for almost three weeks before she was scared off the nest by a predator and refused to go back on about four days ago. We popped the eggs in an incubator, however this was the next day when we realised she wasnt sitting anymore. (So they had been left a night without mumma.) Its unusually hot here so when I picked out rhe eggs the next morning, they weren't stone cold to my suprise, so I thought they stood a chance. Well, hatching day (day 21) was supposed to be two days ago. and they havent hatched. I cant hear or see any signs of movement or piping. I just wanted to double check what you thought before throwing them out/burying. I'll post a photo below of what they looked like when I candled them just now. I couldnt see any movement or veins.

 

[beckstaar96]

Okay I couldn't get a good picture as they are bantam eggs. I've pulled a picture from this website: It was like this except I couldn't see veins and it was pretty solid. There wasnt any movement at all

 

[Lazy Farmer]

These are extremely important factors-
Consistent temperature.
Well balanced humidity.
Air moisture/temps spikes & plunges dramatically influence the outcome.

My questions-
What was your oven temp set at?
What was the RH reading?
Factory built in meters or second opinion aux meters used?
How did you know the hatch day? Did you set the eggs under the hen? And were they stored prior to being set? + how were they stored pre set?

​

 

[Rose Quartz]

Hi all,

I've never incubated eggs before, so apologies if this is basic. My hen was sat on eggs for almost three weeks before she was scared off the nest by a predator and refused to go back on about four days ago. We popped the eggs in an incubator, however this was the next day when we realised she wasnt sitting anymore. (So they had been left a night without mumma.) Its unusually hot here so when I picked out rhe eggs the next morning, they weren't stone cold to my suprise, so I thought they stood a chance. Well, hatching day (day 21) was supposed to be two days ago. and they havent hatched. I cant hear or see any signs of movement or piping. I just wanted to double check what you thought before throwing them out/burying. I'll post a photo below of what they looked like when I candled them just now. I couldnt see any movement or veins.

Lower temp that late could have killed them, but not necessarily. What I would reccomend is you wait one more day. and then if nothing's happened try a water candle.

Basically get a bowl of warm water and float an egg in it. if the egg moves on it's own it is still alive. if it doesn't it's dead.

at this point no movement with light doesn't mean dead. if the chicks head is under it's wing like it's supposed to be it might not respond to the bright light.

 

[Hannah15]

To me, that egg doesn't look dead (at least not for very long). Usually when you can still see veins like that they are either alive or very recently dead. I don't think the air cell looks like a day 21 egg though. Usually the air cell becomes larger and more "slanted" by that point (unless the chick is mal-positioned). I think it looks more like day 18-ish. If your light is bright enough, and you give it a few seconds, you can usually see the chicks move just a little bit. This is just based on my experience, but I do tend to candle every day (which works fine for me), so I've noted the subtle changes in the eggs throughout incubation.

 

[LCcreekside]

Maybe she wouldn't come back to he nest because she knew the eggs were no longer viable. My broodies have instincts that I can't match.