13 abandoned eggs.....10 abandoned embryos.

[pgpoultry]

10 days ago I lost a lovely hen to fox predation.She had decided to brood under a bush and I didn't know she was out, as they free range over a large site and I have too many chickens already. Just a day later when I left the house to open the coops there was a hen, wet, ravenous and a bit bedraggled waiting by the door. I fed her and then watched. She made her way down to an area of long grass by the coops, then disappeared. I searched the area and found her brooding eggs.

Unwisely (as I was so afraid of losing her to the fox) I removed her to a brood coop in the agricultural shed. She made her way off and went back to her original broody area. I tried again, both later in the day and at night.....she was having none of it. I therefore left her in the agricultural shed and took her by now cool eggs into the house and on to the incubator. She has now rejoined the flock.

I candled the eggs later in the day and found embryos in 11 of the 13 eggs (this has since reduced to 10 as one has died).OH said to throw them out, but I couldn't do that.

I now have, I think, 10 embryos and think they are probably at about day 14-15, but I'm no expert (and useless at posting candling pictures).

So....all I can do is guess and switch off the turner and up the humidity in 3-4 days time.

I'm assuming that this is the best thing to do under the circumstances, but would welcome any suggestions as to what should be done.

Is there any sure fire way of telling as to when I'm about at day 18?

Thank You.

 

[sumi]

There are day-to-day candling pics in this thread: Egg Candling Pics: Progression Though Incubation Hopefully that can help you determine the length of incubation.

 

[Nsampsel]

It may be best to turn by hand if you think they are that close to hatch. When I'm not sure of a set date (I've acquired hens who were setting eggs a couple times) I just watch for an internal or external pip & get them moved to the hatcher as soon as I see it. I turn all my eggs by hand tho, so no worries on them getting stuck in turner racks regardless.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don't know of any sure fire way. Candling may help you and is worth a try. Anything you can do to narrow it down will help.

Lockdown is not something that has to be really precise. There are different reason to stop turning and up the humidity, but even if you miss lockdown by a full day or even a lot more more, you may not do any or much harm. There is a hatching calendar floating around this forum that a lot of people use that is off by a full day, yet most people do OK when they use it. The big thing to me is to try to go into lockdown before any eggs pip, but I've had eggs pip before I went into lockdown and they hatched fine. My incubator was running a bit warm so they were really early. You don't always shrink-wrap chicks when you open the incubator after one pips. I have shrink-wrapped a chick doing that so it is possible, but there were many more that had pipped and still hatched fine.

What I'll suggest is not perfect for sure, but occasionally tap on the incubator and listen for peeping from the unzipped eggs. Watch for movement too. They will often peep after internal pip if you tap on the incubator. If you hear peeping or see movement, immediately go into lockdown.

There have been several posts on here where people missed lockdown and found chicks walking around in their incubator. Those eggs can be pretty tough when it comes to hatching. Doing lockdown right improves your chances of getting a good hatch, but getting it wrong does not always doom you to absolute failure. I think you have a decent shot at getting some chicks out of that hatch.

Good luck!

 

[pgpoultry]

Thank you for your replies folks.

Sumi....I'd known there was a chart somewhere, just didn't know where to find it.Thank you so much for the link. From those pics., about day 13, I would say.

The embryos are still moving freely and some are VERY active, so they really do want to survive.I'll candle them daily and lockdown in 4-5 days if things continue to go as they are. Maybe I'll remove the dividers a little earlier and up the humidity a bit as the turner will still do it's thing without the dividers.

I'll certainly try tapping the incubator in a few days, too, if things aren't obvious.


A few hatches back I placed an abandoned and cold 'full term' egg in the incubator after mum had abandoned them following predator attack, along with a new batch on day 5-6, and upped the humidity a bit. The chick had almost hatched when I stopped the turner for a few hours to let him out. He is now a healthy 5 week old chick.

Maybe I should be a bit tougher and just write off this type of egg, but experience now tells me that the rules can often be unintentionally bent and healthy chicks are the outcome.

 

[pgpoultry]

I suppose it was bound to happen....one of them caught me napping.

Humidity still low, turner still on,dividers still in, no non-slip mat.......and a pip.

Early this morning I did a frantic resetting and re-arrangement, the whole process taking less than 4 minutes, so I hope that things will still be OK.

 

[sumi]

Good luck