Float Testing, Checking Egg Viability For Late Or Overdue Hatching

[dc3085]

Don't worry too much and just stay the course for now. It wasn't good to dip them in cold water but you really never know what eggs will tolerate and still hatch. I'd say you'll probably still get something to hatch.

 

[loobylu]

I hope so, I'm so upset with myself, I just got all panicked by the exploded egg and didnt want her sitting on anymore bad ones, she's a dinky wyandotte and had taken it upon herself to claim 21 eggs, but because she accumulated whilst brooding an original batch of 14 we didnt realise she'd added more and didnt want to risk taking out viable ones. I'm now worried that the one that sank which had a chick in might have been viable and I killed it, I'm really hoping I didnt, the other 3 sinkers were completely dud, 2 were nothing, one had slightly formed and then died very very early on, but the formed one was in a sac and had feathering and beak and feet all formed :-(

 

[dc3085]

You can see why as their experience level with hatching goes up most people stop messing around with candling and float tests. The more you handle them the more chances you have to mess up. It's still a valuable part of learning to be a good hatcher though.

 

[Dragons4u]

Well put DC.

 

[loobylu]

Absolutely, tbh I wouldn't have touched them at all if one hadn't exploded everywhere, I hatched successfully with a different broody last year and left mother nature to do her own thing with just one candling session halfway through to check all was well, just got a shock at the smell and the mess of the exploding egg and thought I better stop that happening again. I don't think I would do the water test again

 

[loobylu]

Had to remove 2 more bad eggs from the nest this morning, one had started to crack so caught it before is explode, the other had started some telltale stinky seeping, egg-topsied both and one had never developed beyond a couple of days the seeping one however I think probably had been something but bacteria had taken hold as it was a very putrid bluey/greenyness.

I'm really concerned that perhaps all of the ones she's left with are no good - on the float test yesterday they were all high floater no low ones, is there any safe way of checking? I have a Brinsea Ovaview egg candler and I think now potentially all of the remaining ones are overdue, at no stage in the last week have I heard any cheeping from the eggs and other than yesterday with the egg eggplosion and subsequent stress there has been no intervention at any time we just left her to her own devices with the eggs, but now I'm wondering if we need to intervene if nothing is going to hatch?

If there arent going to be any ones that hatch what is the best way of getting broody back to her routine or would it be safe to set her on a new batch of eggs, or would that be too stressful for her body to take?

 

[dc3085]

If they don't hatch and you want to break her off brooding the easiest way I know of is to put the hen in a wire bottomed cage with no nesting material for a few days. Once she realizes cool air will always come through the floor her body understands it has no hope of hatching eggs and she should go back into production within a few days of doing this.

 

[loobylu]

Would it be safe to let her brood a new batch of eggs? Set her in the other broody coop and just give her a smaller batch of fertilised eggs freshly laid from the rest of my girls? I dont want to drag it out for her if it will make her ill, but if I can let her raise some then I would like to do so. I think maybe she overdid it deciding to sit on so many and just couldnt keep them consistently warm enough. I guess I still may get a pleasant surprise from the last few, I will just keep and eye on her and remove any bad ones but I'm kind of expecting it to be a failed hatch at this stage. I took a pic of the one that had formed but died, but not sure how to best find out how many days old it was.

 

[dc3085]

As long as she is getting up to eat and drink it's ok to let her try again. Just check to make sure she hasn't been losing weight this round.

 

[loobylu]

Oh thats good, I'll give her to Sunday with this hatch and then will need to to candle the eggs to see if there is any sign of anything going on, if its a bust then I will move her and give her a fresh set - at least then I will also know when 21 days is from, shes eating and drinking fine and gets up to go and dust bathe and poop so she's been good as gold really, just 21 eggs and 1 small Wyandotte is not a good mix