Broody Hen--How can I tell if the eggs are good?

[Sortacountrychicken]

I also would avoid washing the bloom off. Eggs can develop without it but you run a much greater risk of infection reaching the chick with the bloom washed off.

 

[GoatGirl123]

You should candle eggs. You can do this with any type of flashlight I usually use my phone flashlight. Put the bottom of the egg (the round end) and put it on top of the flashlight on your phone. Do this at night or bring the eggs into somewhere where it is completely dark .You will be able to see inside the egg.​

 

[ChickenLittle5]

At that point in development the egg should be mostly filled with the chick. It would be helpful to candle an egg from the fridge to see what an undeveloped egg looks like. Eggs that have a ring of blood around an undeveloped yolk should also be discarded from the nest.

You should candle eggs. You can do this with any type of flashlight I usually use my phone flashlight. Put the bottom of the egg (the round end) and put it on top of the flashlight on your phone. Do this at night or bring the eggs into somewhere where it is completely dark .You will be able to see inside the egg.​

I tried to candle the eggs this evening will little success. It wasn't quite dark enough for some eggs, so I'll try again tomorrow when I have more time. I found 1 egg that was definitely rotten. Once I got it out of the nest I could see a crack in the shell. I didn't really know what I was looking at on the others, but I think several of them are bad. I'm attaching a couple of pictures in hopes someone here can give me suggestions as to what else I might look for when I inspect these tomorrow. Also, do hens keep laying eggs while they're sitting on the nest? Would one egg look like a day 5 egg while the other looks like a day 1, or would the day 1 looking egg just be an egg that stopped developing?

These are the eggs that I think are bad, but would love another opinion before I toss them. My mom said the hen would know if they were bad and would sit on them, but she was definitely sitting on one cracked/rotten one and my hands stunk after handling the eggs!

 

[Chicalina]

the first two are either freshly laid or not fertile.

third and fourth ones look like viable chicks but at different stages (third is further ahead) so you'll have a staggered hatch and likely fourth will die.

fifth egg started to develop and stopped. Toss one, two and five. Let her sit on number three and if possible give number four to another broody hen.

 

[Chicalina]

good candling pics BTW!

You might find this useful

Thread '*CHICKS are HERE!!!* Egg Candling Pics: Progression Though Incubation' https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-pics-progression-though-incubation.261876/

 

[aart]

You need to candle eggs at about 7 days and remove any that are not developing.
If your broody is in with the flock you also need to the mark eggs you want to hatch, put them all under the broody on the same day, and remove any freshly laid eggs daily.

None of the eggs you candled look alive to me...especially at 2.5 weeks.
Your broody has now been setting for ~5.5 weeks,
this is not healthy for the bird.
I would break her broodiness immediately.

Put them in warn water and if they float,they are bad and if they sink then they are good! (Make sure there is no cracks in the shell)

NO, just NO.
This is for eating eggs, and is not viable anyway.
Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

 

[ChickenLittle5]

good candling pics BTW!

You might find this useful

Thread '*CHICKS are HERE!!!* Egg Candling Pics: Progression Though Incubation' https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-pics-progression-though-incubation.261876/

Thanks. There are several other eggs that I couldn't see anything. I'm hoping those have fully developed chicks, but it could also be that it just wasn't dark enough outside to candle the eggs?? I have been using that thread, but since I don't really know how old the eggs are, I don't know if they stopped developing on day "x" or if they are "x" days old.

You need to candle eggs at about 7 days and remove any that are not developing.
If your broody is in with the flock you also need to the mark eggs you want to hatch, put them all under the broody on the same day, and remove any freshly laid eggs daily.

None of the eggs you candled look alive to me...especially at 2.5 weeks.
Your broody has now been setting for ~5.5 weeks,
this is not healthy for the bird.
I would break her broodiness immediately.



NO, just NO.
This is for eating eggs, and is not viable anyway.
Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

I didn't realize I needed to candle the eggs if the hen was sitting on them! I thought candling was for incubating. I also thought if the hen was sitting, she would know what to do! Also, since you mention removing freshly laid eggs, does that mean the hen does continue to lay even while broody or are you talking about the flock's new eggs? She is sitting on different colored eggs, so they're not all "hers." To complicate matters, there is a 2nd broody, and they are my Bielefelders, so unlike my Easter Eggers, it is hard to tell them apart. She hasn't been sitting as long and wasn't willing to give up her eggs yesterday. I obviously made some poor assumptions & messed up by not candling on day 7, so where do I go from here?

Here is what I'm thinking.

1) I'm not going to toss any until tomorrow. I want to candle them again tonight when it is darker so I will feel more confident in my decision. I'll need to explain this decision to my son, who is looking forward to some little chicks!!

2) I'm also going to double-check my calendar to make sure she has really been sitting on them for 3 weeks. If so, I'm assuming my novice eye might not see anything except an air pocket at the end of the egg if it is viable. The chick might just look like a dark area l??

3) Assuming tomorrow makes 3 weeks of her sitting, anything that doesn't look like a day 18 egg in silkiechicken's thread linked above should be tossed. If tomorrow is day 21, how long should I give any of these remaining eggs to hatch before I decide they've expired? All the charts show 21 days, but I assume with most other gestation periods, that is just an average length.

Also, can you elaborate on why broodiness for 5.5 weeks is bad for her? Is it because she doesn't eat much during this time? If tomorrow really is day 21 for these eggs, I assume another day or two of broodiness won't hurt?? I know I should stop assuming....that is what has led me here so far!

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

The broody hen will stop laying as soon as she thinks she has enough eggs to sit on. The rest of the flock will continue to lay eggs in the nest with the broody. I would mark which eggs look to be developed and then remove any others every day.
1. Definitely candle when it is darker out. Dark eggshells can be hard to see through so depending on how dark the eggs are, you may still only see a dark egg.
2. I find that I have a hard time seeing into an egg for the last week of development with just my phone camera. On the other hand, blood rings have always been visible no matter how developed so if you do only see a dark egg I would leave it in the nest.
3. I would give the eggs another 5 days and candle again if you don't have chicks by then. At that point any chicks that you are going to have should have internally pipped and you should be able to see that with the candling. If they haven't made any changes in 5 days, I think it's safe to say they aren't going to hatch.
The 21 days can vary to some degree but my experience, with broodiest at least, is that if they are going to off the 21 day mark, they will be early.

Yes, extended broodiness is very hard on a hen for a number of reasons, but reduced food intake is a major one. Another is greater risk of parasites from reduced dust bathing.

Like I said above, I would only let her sit for another 5 days at most unless there are chicks already in the process of hatching.

 

[ChickenLittle5]

The broody hen will stop laying as soon as she thinks she has enough eggs to sit on. The rest of the flock will continue to lay eggs in the nest with the broody. I would mark which eggs look to be developed and then remove any others every day.
1. Definitely candle when it is darker out. Dark eggshells can be hard to see through so depending on how dark the eggs are, you may still only see a dark egg.
2. I find that I have a hard time seeing into an egg for the last week of development with just my phone camera. On the other hand, blood rings have always been visible no matter how developed so if you do only see a dark egg I would leave it in the nest.
3. I would give the eggs another 5 days and candle again if you don't have chicks by then. At that point any chicks that you are going to have should have internally pipped and you should be able to see that with the candling. If they haven't made any changes in 5 days, I think it's safe to say they aren't going to hatch.
The 21 days can vary to some degree but my experience, with broodiest at least, is that if they are going to off the 21 day mark, they will be early.

Yes, extended broodiness is very hard on a hen for a number of reasons, but reduced food intake is a major one. Another is greater risk of parasites from reduced dust bathing.

Like I said above, I would only let her sit for another 5 days at most unless there are chicks already in the process of hatching.

Well, it seems the eggs I tossed the night before—the ones that were cracked or otherwise obviously bad even to a novice—were definitely the source of the funky smell. The coop didn’t stink last night! I canceled again and tossed about 6 eggs that while not necessarily bad, were much farther behind the others. Several of the eggs looked dark & full with a small air pocket on one end. I left those. One even had an external pip (or crack?). The weird thing is that egg is no where to be found today and there is no evidence of a hatch?! I looked under 3 hens (2 Broodies and a layer) and couldn’t find it. I also looked in the floor of the hen house in case it fell out. Again, nothing!
These girls have been playing tricks on me. At least one of the eggs I gathered Friday was rotten! I know it wasn’t there Friday morning so I assumed it was fresh. Nope! Had my kids gathered them, I’d have assumed they were lazy the day before a missed one, but I’ve been getting the eggs the last few days. Those sneaky ladies can move the eggs between nest boxes. I had know idea they could do that until I saw it with my own eyes today. Broody #2 reached around the divider and pulled an egg over as I was trying to gather them. Plus, I candled the “fresh” eggs last night and they were definitely not 0-24 hour eggs. They were several days along. I now assume Broody #2 decided they were bad and pushed them around the divider. She seems to have a better mothering instinct. When I pull eggs from under her and put them back, she rearranges them to make sure they’re under her. Broody #1 doesn’t do that.
Anyway, I appreciate the help. I’ll see what happens over the next few days. If no chicks show up in 5 days, I’ll toss all the eggs. I think I have another one trying to go broody. How do I stop her?

 

[Sortacountrychicken]

Yep. Eggs definitely need to be marked so you know which eggs are which. I'm glad you were able to get rid of the rotten ones! As far as breaking a broody I have no personal experience. I let them all sit. I believe there should be some articles on this site that could give you some answers. Good luck and let us know if you end up with chicks or not!