[DyArianna]

Egg 1 was laid on the 9th... so today that makes it 11 days. Mom and dad have been sitting tight since laid. Everything I can find leads to hatching of course.. just not this early. In my past clutches, when the air sac was tilted this much, there was signs of pipping within two or three days. But I also know that none of my clutches have been routine.

Any ideas as to if this is normal.. or if I could be looking at a premature chick of some sort? If so, more than likely it won't make it.. but I'm just trying to prepare for what the outcome of this egg might be.

I did searches but didn't come up with what I was looking for.

 

[srtiels]

Have you candled the egg to see if there are viable veins, and movement? While candling, rotate the egg to see if there are any cracks, especially if the air cell is very large. The earliest an air cell will tilt is at 16 days and that is a result of a hot environment, and hatching would be on day 17.

So more info needed from your observations....

 

[DyArianna]

My apologies for not enough information. Yes, I candled the eggs last night. The egg is very viable, great veins.. and tons of movement in it. They are in a different room than they were with prior clutches. But this room is not even close to being described as hot. It's not freezing either but kept at around 68. Today is day 12 for this egg. There are absolutely no cracks in the egg. It's not that the air sac is huge because it is typical size.. just the tilting this early was my concern. There is also definitely no way I'm off on the date it was laid either. Do you think it is a safe assumption on my part that this egg will end up a DIS because of prematurity?

 

[srtiels]

Can you draw a pix, scan it and post it, or a good candled pix to show what you mean?

My first though is how is the humidity in the room. If humidity is low you might want to run a humidifier in the room until your eggs are hatched.

Many times cracks can be felt or seen. What I have done is used food color (dilute the color) on a tissue (it is non toxic) and swabbed the area below the lowest point of the tilt to see if there is a crack.

I know sudden enviromental temp changes can affect hatches....but this is more closer to hatching. Fort example, one day warm, then suddenly a cold front coming in. Several of us breeders nationwide observed that when this happened it explained some abnormal hatches. Thus outside environmental factors can disorientate a chick in the egg. I call it wandering chick because pip marks are erratic and the little one may punch out the side of the egg or out the bottom.

It is quite possible weather can be affecting this egg...only guessing.

 

[DyArianna]

Well we have definitely had a strange winter thus far. Usually by this time there is at least a couple of feet of snow on the ground. Right now, I'd say there might be 3 inches. The ski areas are really hurting. We do have the heat on and have had for the last couple of months.. so I know the temp inside has been regulated. Humidity levels I'm unsure of as I do not have a humidity gauge working. I will not be able to do the pic of the candled egg until tonight. I will have my daughter assist. I will actually try to do a short video of it so that way maybe the movement can be seen too. Thanks Srtiels..

 

[srtiels]

Ah....(duh, it didn't look at your location, VT) you will defintely need a humidifier running this time of year. It is from Dec-early spring, nationwide that DIS is the highest because of low humidity.

keep an eye on the size of the air cell. If it gets larger the easiest way to increase the humidity in the nestox is to lightly mist just the inside wall of the nestbox once a day til hatch. Avoid any spray on the bedding or eggs.

 

[DyArianna]

Will do! Thanks.. will still try and get a video of the egg later tonight. Actually I will candle all 4 on video. Perhaps it will be helpful to someone. I'd just take pics.. but this new camera is not cooperating with me in regards to the flash.

 

[srtiels]

OK....how I did all my candling pix was to turn off the flash on my camera. I went into a dark closet and layed the egg and the small candler or flashlight pressed against the air cell end. I shot the pix's from 18" away. When downloaded I cropped them so that just a little of the surrounding area was around the egg. If you are downloading to Windows photo Gallery you can try to adjust exposure to bring out more detail.

If you do a vid take one in a dark closet and another in a semi-darkened room to see which comes out best.

 

[DyArianna]

Great info! We'll see what we can come up with tonight.

 

[DyArianna]

Okay.. I'm about ready to throw this camera against the wall! I am beginning to understand now why the people sold it. lol There are too many darn settings on this thing and you get so frustrated trying to figure them out. Bottom line is pics were a no go. Below is a drawing sort of in Paint to show how tilted the air sac is at 12 days.

We managed to take 10 videos in different lighting and they were all a hodge podge and down right crappy. This one is still pretty horrible.. but you can just barely see the baby moving.

Gibbs and Hetty did not like us planning a photo shoot. There is really good movement in egg 1 and egg 2. Egg 2's air sac is tilted about half that pic above. Egg 2 is 10 days. I also tried the food coloring you suggested on the egg after the pic.. and there are no visible cracks anywhere.

There was someone on here at one point I think, who puts little baby food jars of water in their nest boxes with tiny holes punched into the lids. Do you think this is something I should try?? I have atleast started lightly spraying one wall inside the nest box anyway.

 

[srtiels]

Yes....the baby food jars in the corner of the box would be good, providing they don't spook the parents.

The tilt sure looks like an egg that in in preparation of the chick turning to get in the pip position.

As to camera I have found that a simple cheap Kodak Easy Share camera works as good, without the hassle of all the settings to take my pix's.

 

[DyArianna]

Great! Thank you! I will put the little jar in the corner and see how they react. If it's too stressful, I'll just stick with misting the side of the box. I guess I'll just sit tight for right now and keep a close eye on them. Will update when I see signs of pipping and we'll go from there. I have never had a clutch that pips and breaks out like Ninja chicks. Mine are usually pipping for a good 2 or 3 days before breaking out. I have had some start to pip and then stop. Could still hear chirping. One didn't make it... I did two assist hatches and of those two only one survived. Both times the yolk sac wasn't completely absorbed. The one who survived it was absorbed a bit more than the other but I still left her in a half shell in the nest for a bit and then mom and dad took care of the rest. This was my Pearl Nel.

 

[srtiels]

Keep us posted You might have an early bird. What does the egg weigh?

 

[DyArianna]

Didn't get a chance to weigh the eggs today. Will try to tomorrow. Also tried a baby jar in the corner of the nest box furthest away from the eggs and Gibbs would not stop alarm calling. I removed it. I will stick with misting one side for now.

 

[leeisme]

Dyarianna I am the one who has put the baby food jars in the nest boxes becuase of the high mortality rate with low humidity in the nest boxes especially with the dry air during the winter due to heating the house. It seems to have really helped with the hatch rate adding that extra moisture.

 

[DyArianna]

Ahhhh... well I tried it and it was as if there was an alien in the box. Well I guess there was if you think about it. lol I believe what I might try next time, is right when I give them the nest box, already have the small jar in it. Little ones are due to start hatching this coming weekend or so, so this time round is proving to be too stressful for them.

 

[srtiels]

so this time round is proving to be too stressful for them.
-----------------------------------------------

Just to be on the safe side you might want to give the parents some probiotics prior to hatch. Simple stress can generate some low grade yeast flare-ups, which you don't want to happen close to hatch because the parents will start to eat once they know the chick is ready to pip, and will hold a little reserve in the form of a fluid in their crop to feed the baby until it's yolk sac is fully absorbed inside their bodies.

 

[DyArianna]

I may have mistyped that. I meant that adding the jar of water this time round was going to stress them out, so I didn't. They don't seem to be stressed in any other way... but the probiotics sounds like a good idea to be safe.

 

[DyArianna]

I weighed the eggs tonight. Still no signs of pipping.. movement was detected tonight but still good veins. Egg 1 weighs 6 grams. Egg 2 weighs 5 and so does egg 3. I left egg 4 because Gibbs wasn't in the mood to be disturbed so I left the last one in. I also have slight tilting on the 3rd egg now.

Someone else has eggs laid on the same dates as mine, roughly. Sitting on our eggs began from the get go. But I've always considered my eggs as 1 day after 24 hours of sitting. They were laid the 9th, 11, 13 and 15th. I'm calling them 14, 12, 10 and 8. Is this correct? Or should I be referring to them as 15, 13, 11 and 9?

 

[srtiels]

Just a random thought....what are you using for bedding?

I start counting day on right after the egg is laid. My guestimate hatch date is calculated for 18 days later. This give me a date to start watching eggs 2 days befor and after the target date.