PLEASE HELP! bought hatching eggs!

[chickydoos]

i have a broody silkie that i am trying to break. So i bought some soon to be hatching eggs. I got 3 eggs that were layed on 5/19 so that would make today day 23. I bought the eggs on day 21. Still no pip. Im new to hatching eggs. But i put them under my hen who was very happy to care for the eggs. Did we do something wrong? Should i throw the eggs out? When i put them to my ear i could hear faint pecks. As if they were pecking at the shell. But no pip. Tried the candling thing but couldnt see anything. But i really dont know what im looking for either. Newbie here.

 

[chickydoos]

She is a first time mother as well I don't know if that matters or not...

 

[Ridgerunner]

The day the egg was laid has nothing to do with when it hatches. What counts is when incubation started. I think that’s what you actually meant.

There are a lot of things that can make an egg hatch a few days early or late, heredity, humidity, how and how long the egg was stored before incubation started, even just basic differences in the eggs. The big difference is often average incubation temperature but that is not the only reason. It’s not unusual for mine to hatch two full days early or even more under a broody or in the incubator, though they are usually about on time. Other people have eggs that hatch a few days late. The way I look at it, if they are within 24 hours of the “ideal“ hatch time, they are right on time. If they are earlier or later, it is not necessarily a disaster.

All I can suggest is patience, hard as that might be. You really can’t do anything to help and if you heard peeping, they still have a chance. I find the best thing to do is to just let the broody do her job. The less I interfere, the better.

Good luck!

 

[chickydoos]

Thank you for your response. I believe that the 19th was the day that she started the incubating period. Since that was the date that she since that was the date that she had written on the egg in pencil. Does anybody else have any opinions?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Can you call and confirm the start of incubation? We write different things on our eggs for our own reasons. I feel a lot better about something if I know instead of just assume.

I just put a number on mine so I can tell which egg is which after they start pipping, so I can keep track of how long they take. No date at all. Different systems for different folks for different reasons.