# Egg developed Crack?



## theguy67 (Mar 26, 2017)

Quick question.

I have a redfoot egg on day 84. I went to check on it and noticed there was a crack (approx. an inch long) on one side. Temp is 86-87. There is a dark mass on one side (when candling), and I still see blood vessels. It doesn't stink either, which if it had died I would assume it would be smelling. I already pulled another egg out weeks ago that stopped developing and started stinking.

What could have caused a crack to spontaneously occur? Humidity is 90+%, but the substrate isn't wet, just somewhat moist (didn't want it to be too wet).

I assume all remains well so long as I can see vessels.


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## african cake queen (Mar 26, 2017)

I had to glue a pancake egg. The female cracked it. Looks good. Only time will tell. Yours sounds good. Let it go. Good luck.


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## zovick (Mar 26, 2017)

theguy67 said:


> Quick question.
> 
> I have a redfoot egg on day 84. I went to check on it and noticed there was a crack (approx. an inch long) on one side. Temp is 86-87. There is a dark mass on one side (when candling), and I still see blood vessels. It doesn't stink either, which if it had died I would assume it would be smelling. I already pulled another egg out weeks ago that stopped developing and started stinking.
> 
> ...



Perhaps the egg is beginning to hatch. The timing seems about right.


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## Tom (Mar 26, 2017)

I'd leave it alone.

In conditions that are too wet or humid then the egg can take on too much water and swell until it cracks. Doesn't sound like this is the case with yours.


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## theguy67 (Mar 26, 2017)

Tom said:


> I'd leave it alone.
> 
> In conditions that are too wet or humid then the egg can take on too much water and swell until it cracks. Doesn't sound like this is the case with yours.



That was my understanding as well, although my substrate seems too dry for it to be over-hydrated. I'll double check next time I'm in the incubator. I'll dig down and see how wet the bottom really is. My only other guess would be a fracture formed either during laying, or moving the eggs and it finally split.



zovick said:


> Perhaps the egg is beginning to hatch. The timing seems about right.


Well that crossed my mind, but the average for redfoots is 125 days I believe. There's still a month to go, and there still seems to be some empty room in 1/4 of the egg I'd assume (like chickens and lizards that I have incubated) would be full by time it hatches.

The good thing is we have about a month or so to go, so I hope all goes well.

Thanks all!


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## Yvonne G (Mar 26, 2017)

Sometimes the eggs absorb too much moisture if you have the humidity too high in the incubator. This causes the interior to swell and the shell to crack.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 27, 2017)

I'm new to the hatching and exploding egg thing. (Redfoot)
But I can say that the eggs that exploded first cracked. Is it just a crack? No smell at all? In my experience the cracks were cause by gasses trying to escape and there was a "bad egg" smell that was easy to detect.
My eggs that hatched started with outer egg shell flaking off. Not cracks. Flaking off due to the baby poking at it with feet and beak.
If it smells, remove it cautiously so that it doesn't blow up in your hands. If there is no smell. Keep it and watch it.
I also had mixed luck with candling. Most fertile eggs looked 100% dark while the 50% dark ones were yolks that had settled and were rotting and the 100% clear eggs that glowed either pink or yellow were still too early to tell.


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## cdmay (Mar 27, 2017)

Tom said:


> I'd leave it alone.
> 
> In conditions that are too wet or humid then the egg can take on too much water and swell until it cracks. Doesn't sound like this is the case with yours.



My recommendation as well. You can use Super Glue o seal the crack but don't go crazy...use just a little bit.
In my experience splitting occurs when the humidity increases due to over saturation and as Tom said, the egg wall simply cannot contain the volume. 
The good news is that if you act to correct the condition and seal the egg, it will likely hatch.
Red-foot eggs typically take 4 to 5 months to hatch here, but I quit paying attention to exact dates many moons ago.


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## theguy67 (Mar 27, 2017)

I went back in last night and concluded the humidity was higher than I thought. I removed the source of the water, so I've at-least stopped any future swelling.

The way my incubator was set up- The egg container was inside of a slightly larger container that had an inch of water in the bottom. That wasn't the initial plan, but I added the water to help with the temp (and it did some). I just removed the water and put the egg in the larger container...what I should have done months ago. 

I'll check back in a week.


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## TammyJ (Mar 28, 2017)

Good luck!


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