Indecision.... buy eggs about to hatch? Or day-olds after they hatch?

[Just sayin]

Hi all... I'm still trying to make my broody hen happy. We candled her eggs last weekend, though we're not sure what we're looking at, and not sure if any of them are actually viable. She's a young hen, and so are the other hens the eggs came from.

There is a backyard breeder down the street who has eggs that may hatch by this weekend.

Is it a good idea to substitute viable eggs for these mystery eggs? I just hate to see her commit more time to these eggs and end up with a broken heart if they don't hatch.

Should I be concerned about disease at all? If so... is it safer to buy them as eggs, or after they hatch? Is there risk of bringing in disease if they're still eggs?

If they're already hatched, any tips for sticking them under her?

Opinions?

 

[123RedBeard]

I would ask your neighbor to help you understand what your looking for in the candling, sometimes it is easier to be right there and shown ...

How many days has she been sitting on the eggs?

 

[Just sayin]

She's not really a friend or neighbor, just someone nearby who I have seen selling eggs and chicks on the local livestock pages. She's a backyard breeder.

The hen has been sitting on the eggs 15 days now. She has four eggs under her. She started out with just one. Three others appeared later, one probably hers, and two laid by other hens at some point, some days later. We didn't know this til she got up one day and *surprise*. So one egg may be further along than the others... which is part of the problem with this whole little scenario as it has developed.

Three of the eggs, we're not sure we could see anything... but maybe saw veins. This one... there did seem to be something larger and darker inside, but we're not sure. It was hard to get good pictures. This picture would have been at 12 days.

 

[TheBeardie]

She's not really a friend or neighbor, just someone nearby who I have seen selling eggs and chicks on the local livestock pages. She's a backyard breeder. The hen has been sitting on the eggs 15 days now. She has four eggs under her. She started out with just one. Three others appeared later, one probably hers, and two laid by other hens at some point, some days later. We didn't know this til she got up one day and *surprise*. So one egg may be further along than the others... which is part of the problem with this whole little scenario as it has developed. Three of the eggs, we're not sure we could see anything... but maybe saw veins. This one... there did seem to be something larger and darker inside, but we're not sure. It was hard to get good pictures. This picture would have been at 12 days.

At 15 days you should be able to see some vaining with most of the egg dark. Here's a thread with pictures "progression though incubation" when I started incubating my eggs This helped me. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

 

[Toddrick]

If you never saw any veins and movement (at least from the heart pumping the veins) then the eggs are probably no good. At two weeks the chick should be so big that you can hardly see any light passing through the egg, but you should still be able to identify veins around the air pocket or see shadowy movements.

That picture looks Iike an infertile egg. Take an egg from the fridge and compare the two, and I imagine they will look the same.

 

[Just sayin]

Update... Through a tragedy, a sign of hope! I've still been arguing with myself about whether to buy some substitutes... the money isn't the issue, they're cheep! (cheap ). The issue is whether or not the eggs under her are viable or not, should I just let her keep going with those eggs, and let nature take it's course. I just hated to risk breaking her heart if they're not alive.

Well, we lost one egg this morning, and, we learned, it was developing. I've gotten in the habit of lifting her up off the nest in the morning, and taking her over to the food... just so I know she's eating well enough. Well... she picked up an egg in her foot as I lifted her, but then dropped it about a foot up and it broke. Inside was a little tiny thing with a body and a face. It was not far along, but it was also one of the dark eggs that I think were added later.

We candled the remaining three, and there are dark shapes in all of them. I can't get a good picture though. So... I think she'll be OK without me having to give her substitutes.

I'm going to leave her alone now and see what happens. My friends on facebook tell me I'm too much of a control freak and I should let her be. She'll know when to give up. We'll see. Another week at least, til we know.

 

[dorpersheep]

How's she going Just sayin? Any babies peeping out yet?? Or is it too soon?

 

[Just sayin]

Thanks for askin! It's still ongoing... I posted another thread when one hatched. The most recent update I'll put here, momentarily...:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...eper-tonight-sad-update-lost-it#post_14345608