Hatching chicken eggs can be an exciting and uncertain thing to do, especially if you’re just starting out. Even if you read all the books, listen to all the audio lessons, watch all the videos and read all the forums there are still things that can go wrong at any stage. One of which is your chicken dying in the egg. If you want a heads up on how to tell if a chick is alive in an egg then read on. 

You can easily tell if a chicken has died in an egg by candling the egg. Candling entails using a candle to illuminate the egg, and thus its insides, to check for life. If you can see a form and veins in the egg then the chick is alive and growing 

How to tell if a chick is alive in an egg:

Figuring out if an egg is alive can be tricky. The only way to truly know is to wait to see if the egg will hatch. There are ways to test without waiting but these ways aren’t always conclusive.

The two most common techniques of telling if a chick is alive in the egg are candling and the float water test.

With the candling technique, you use light shone under the egg to observe its contents. Only eggs with veins running from the dark blotch (chick) show that the chick is alive.

In the second technique, an egg is dipped in room temperature water and if it floats with the sac side up or if the chick moves, then it is alive.

The latter technique is somewhat questionable as more than one condition can cause the egg to float. It is better to use candling for a more accurate forecast. 

How long can a chick live in an egg?

Assuming that the incubation period has passed, a chicken can live inside the egg for a further day or two.

If it stays for longer, it may be still-born or died before it could fully develop. Under natural conditions, hens take about the same amount of time before they stop brooding on un-hatched eggs.

If you were to look at a cross-section of a fully incubated egg, that has not grown a chick, then you would see that the air bubble inside the egg has increased to an uncomfortable level.

If the egg was growing a chick then at this stage the nutrients would have dwindled to a point where the egg environment can no longer support the chick. All of this happens whether the chick is growing or not.

So, we can assume the chick would have died three days after the incubation period has elapsed because of a lack of nutrients. 

How long can eggs survive without their mother on them?

Eggs benefit from the warmth of the hen during brooding. From this observation, we can conclude that the egg is dependent on the hen for temperature control.

If the temperature changes drastically, then the eggs are unlikely to survive the very hot or cold extremes. If the eggs remain without a hen brooding them for longer than half an hour, they will not survive. 

What temperature will kill chicken eggs?

Chicken eggs will hatch normally in the temperature range of thirty-five to forty degrees Celsius. Any temperature lower or higher than that will lead to poor development or the death of the chick. 

Should you help a chick out of an egg?

No, you should not help a chick out of an egg. Egg hatching has been happening naturally for a long time. It is also not uncommon for an egg to remain un-hatched after all others have been hatched.

It is only dangerous if the egg remains unhatched for more than forty-eight hours after incubation. In this case, you may assist the chick to hatch if it is still alive, by increasing the humidity to about seventy percent.

Do this carefully and slowly to avoid injuring the chick or startling it significantly. 

The danger in helping a chick out of an egg is that you may damage its fragile body which may be stuck to the walls of the egg.

Conclusion 

In conclusion, you can check whether the chick in the egg is alive by doing the float test or candlelight the egg.

Candling involves shining a light against the egg to see if there is a form with veins inside, if there is then the chick is alive.

The float test involves placing the egg in lukewarm water. If the egg floats with the sack side up or the chick inside moves then the chick is likely alive.

Once the incubation period has passed the chick can remain in the egg for a further day or two. The chick in an egg can only survive in temperatures in the range of around thirty-five to forty degrees Celsius and can only survive for 30 minutes without the mother or incubation.

Only help the chick hatch by increasing the humidity.

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other bird related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: How to tell if a chicken egg is fertile with water, Warm water trick for hatching eggs, How to candle eggs with an iPhone, Chicken laying eggs without shell or membrane, why and what to do, How to tell if a bird egg is fertile,