Prince and Pavo
Songster
- Apr 4, 2023
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- 1,711
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Hello! I decided to post this thread and share my experience to hopefully help others if or when they may need it.
I recently gave one of my broody hens four eggs that I had in my incubator so that I wouldn’t have to take care of them when they hatched. A few days before they were due to hatch, another hen laid her egg in the nest, cracking one of the eggs with a developing chick. This is what it looked like: You can see that the air cell was never broken and the membrane was still intact.
I didn’t think that it was going to hatch, but I decided that it couldn’t hurt to try to save it, so I cracked another (normal) egg from the same hen (so that it would be about the same shape as the developing one that broke) and put the blunt end of the shell over the cracked part of the first egg. I sealed the crack with candle wax all the way around, so it looked like this: I was so surprised one morning to find that all four eggs had hatched, and that all the chicks were completely healthy and active!
I just wanted to say that if anyone has a developing egg that gets cracked, it’s not necessarily a goner, and often times it will still hatch. Try sealing the crack(s) with candle wax, and do your best to handle it with extra care and gentleness. This will give it the best chance possible!
I recently gave one of my broody hens four eggs that I had in my incubator so that I wouldn’t have to take care of them when they hatched. A few days before they were due to hatch, another hen laid her egg in the nest, cracking one of the eggs with a developing chick. This is what it looked like: You can see that the air cell was never broken and the membrane was still intact.
I didn’t think that it was going to hatch, but I decided that it couldn’t hurt to try to save it, so I cracked another (normal) egg from the same hen (so that it would be about the same shape as the developing one that broke) and put the blunt end of the shell over the cracked part of the first egg. I sealed the crack with candle wax all the way around, so it looked like this: I was so surprised one morning to find that all four eggs had hatched, and that all the chicks were completely healthy and active!
I just wanted to say that if anyone has a developing egg that gets cracked, it’s not necessarily a goner, and often times it will still hatch. Try sealing the crack(s) with candle wax, and do your best to handle it with extra care and gentleness. This will give it the best chance possible!