Day 46 cutting an egg

Well I was going to wait till day 52 to cut my eggs, but I took them out to candle them and see how they are doing. Out of 6, 4 have good healthy veins, so I left them alone to cook longer. The last two are loosing their obvious veins. The one that has a light set of veins I candled and couldn't see any movement or much of anything in the egg. The last one had veins when it was laid, but over the last week or so the veins have been slowly disappearing. I can see a shadow in the egg but no movement. I am not sure if it is dead or dying. It is not green inside, but a pale yellow. Should I worry about this last egg? I was thinking of cutting it but I didn't know if it was a good idea. The eggs where laid in a pile and I cant separate them (have tried gently but they are stuck on each other for dear life). What should I do (other than leave them alone and pray)? I had plastic wrap over the eggs to keep in the humidity but I took it off today as the other eggs look like wet paper mache. I am monitoring humidity and the temps stay around 88.7. Should I put the wrap back on ?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/mis005-4.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v3...s/mis006-4.jpg

This is a pretty advanced question. I personally would not cut the eggs. Cutting will do no good to the baby. If they are still alive, their lungs are probably not developed enough to breathe air yet anyway. So if I it was my clutch I would wait and cut on day 53 (my cut day).


I hope they make it. Good luck.

dont cut till you get pips, I cut today after I got two pips

I just cut my clutch at day 58, but wish I didn't. My 2nd clutch is on day 50, but I am waiting for them to pip. So 60 is going to be my cut date. They remained in the eggs for what seemed forever, so I want to see if they come out on there own quicker this way. I would wait at least 52 or more.

What temp did you incubate?

Edit - nevermind....

Is it possible you have the days off? Could it actually be later in incubation?

I've only seen this once, at a big breeder's place, but they showed me two eggs that the babies were unable to pip their eggs, panicked and stripped the blood vessels off the top of the egg and ultimately drowned in the eggs.

At Day 46, that seems unlikely, but that's the first thing that I thought of when I saw that, that the blood vessels had been stripped by the thrashing of a panicked baby.

Were it ME, and I saw light veins, I'd be awfully temped to cut the two where you're not seeing good veining any longer, in the off chance that the babies are alive.

The eggs where laid on 6/21/10 between 2am and 5 am. :D See I don't know EXACTLY when they where laid ;) When I put them in the incubator they where stuck fast together. I have tried to separate them without luck. I can not see any patterns or much movement in any of the eggs. I the eggs in question are quite plump, no dimpling and they smell like the rest of the eggs. I have aired the eggs out every week for about 5 minutes, and so I could candle them. The temps drop to about 82 before I can get them back in the incubator, but the temps come back up rather quickly.
Thanks for your help. One side of me says "cut" the other side says "wait" So I am between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to hurt the babies.