Crushed egg day 18...Fingers crossed!

SunHwaKwon said:

I went out to check on everyone this morning and mama was in the yard getting a bite to eat so I decided to see if any more of the eggs were pipped. Two of them were pecking and chirping, so I decided to take them back to the house with me in case they hatched and the RIR went in and squished or pecked them. Well, I'm glad I did because a few hours later she had shoved mama out again and was on the nest laying her egg. So, I have the crushed egg and the two other pippers in the LG still air that I was planning to take back to TSC today. I need to move mama to the outdoor brooder pen asap but am scared to do it before any chicks hatch. I don't want her to abandon the eggs, and I really would like her to brood them as its less work for me. I should have thought about that a week ago.

I need to figure out a way to keep that witch out of the nest box until I can move everyone!

Back to the crushed egg, I know the membrane must be pretty dry. I'm having a hard time getting the humidity to even hit 60% even with all the wells filled and a wet sponge in there.

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SunHwaKwon said:

No, I have a separate meter to read it. I know my neosporin has pain reliever in it but I might have bacitracin. I've opened up some windows since its not too too hot out and that should help to get the humidity up (it's about 90% outside). I'll keep an eye on the temp and my other two incubators. It's reading 100 right now (on the separate meter) and I'm leaving it because I don't want to fiddle and end up too high. It is a still air, though, so hopefully that's okay.

The two I brought inside are just starting to zip. No progress on the crushed one but she's very chirpy when I talk to her.

I wish they could talk so we could know if they were like "I'm good, just resting up for my great escape!" or "Help!" lol

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SunHwaKwon said:

Here she is! She is a Sebright / White and Black tailed Japanese bantam cross She doesn't look like what I expected. I could swear that the last ones from this cross were yellow with a orangy tinge, but they may have been from the OEGB hen. Hmmm. She is full of spunk and personality.



So far she has three of her full siblings and one full blood white with black tail that is pipped in the incubator with her. I ran into a situation last night where my black Japanese hen decided she wants to go broody and the only nest she could find was the OEGB so she kicked her out. Two problems: I need the OEGB to hatch some chicks so I can break her very long broody streak, and one day of broodiness by the black Jap isn't long enough for her to mother the chicks (I don't think). I moved the OEGB and her eggs to the brooding pen and she was fine through the night but this morning she freaked out, ignoring the eggs and throwing herself against the pen, so I had to let her back in the main pen. I took the two eggs that had pipped during the night and gave her the two unpipped because I wanted her to stay in the mothering mood so I can give her her chicks but I also don't want one of the other hens to steal or hurt the ones that were about to hatch. I really set myself up for this one. Lesson learned, now I just have to get through this. My black Japanese hens were so much easier to deal with through brooding, hatching, and mothering. The OEGB is more docile in some ways and yet more high strung.

Either way I need to break her as she has been broody for two months now and I was hoping this would do it, but now if I can't give her (or she won't accept) chicks I'll have to try the cage method. She needs to get back to normal, and I need to get some eggs from her!

I've got mama heating pad on standby...

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SunHwaKwon said:

I forgot to mentioned she was peeping so loud I finally gave in and took a look inside. The poor thing was shrink wrapped and in the wrong position so I ended up helping her out. She seemed very grateful! I know some people don't like helping, but it really wasn't her fault. I think she was malpositioned because she was shrink wrapped, and shrink wrapped because she was crushed, none of which is a reflection on her genetics or potential as a healthy flock member.

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