We had a Cayuga hen sitting on a nest of 9 eggs. I guesstimated they'd be hatching some time late this week (Friday-ish). The plan was to just let mama handle everything. She'd been an excellent broody. Until last night on her daily sojourn outside she was taken by a fox. It was horrible. The fox took her right from the front yard while I was in the garage. Anyway, after securing the rest of the flock I took her eggs inside and put them in the incubator.
I've hatched out eggs in the incubator before but I've always started fresh... Never when they're "half cooked" like this.
The incubator has an auto turner. It's on at the moment I was planning on turning it off Wednesday unless I saw pipped eggs before then. Like I said before, I really don't know an exact hatch date. We'd just let the eggs pile up until someone decided to sit on them. Then after a week of setting I culleded the eggs I didn't want. I candled them about two weeks ago and they looked to be where they should.
Has anyone been through a similar situation? Any advice? How bad is it to leave the turner on too long?
I've hatched out eggs in the incubator before but I've always started fresh... Never when they're "half cooked" like this.
The incubator has an auto turner. It's on at the moment I was planning on turning it off Wednesday unless I saw pipped eggs before then. Like I said before, I really don't know an exact hatch date. We'd just let the eggs pile up until someone decided to sit on them. Then after a week of setting I culleded the eggs I didn't want. I candled them about two weeks ago and they looked to be where they should.
Has anyone been through a similar situation? Any advice? How bad is it to leave the turner on too long?