19 days i dont know what to do HELP!!

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

my hen is scheduled for her 21 days on July 4th. I candled her eggs yesterday and didn't see any kind of veins as a matter of fact one of the eggs was completely clear. should there be a fully formed chic by now? this morning I went out to them and one egg had busted. I had an erran to run came back and another had busted. I don't know if I should go ahead and get rid of all the eggs and get her some babies. I don't want all her effort to be in vain so I plan to buy some babies and slide under her. I read that's what some people do. any advice please? thanks

 

[TheCrazyClucker]

I think your eggs might be infertile.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have done that. Don't take the eggs until you have some babies to put under her. I made the transition at night. Just slid the babies under her, and took the eggs away. She did a great job of raising them!

Oh, and yes - by Day 19 your eggs should be dark inside with a clearly visible air sac.

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

so when I candle the eggs they should be dark. when I move them around I can see a spot moving around.I think its the yolk. I am so disappointed. we have a rooster. why wouldn't they be fertile?

 

[bobbi-j]

How many hens do you have? How old is your rooster? Those are my first two thoughts. I'm sure there are other things that could affect fertility as well, and I hope that someone with more expertise will chime in. I currently have one rooster to about 18 hens. I keep setting broodies. The first time I got 4/13 - after cracking them open, I realized that the unhatched ones never started developing. The second time around, I had 2 broodies, sharing a nesting area. I got too ambitious and gave them each 15 eggs. Nothing hatched. That could have been for several reasons, though. Poor nesting conditions, infertile eggs, who knows? I now have another broody that I'm going to set with a dozen or so eggs tonight. Will check for development on Sunday night. My guess is that my rooster (about 4 years old) has his favorites and those are the ones that are being bred. I'm not sure which eggs his favorites lay, though, so I'm collecting a variety of eggs, hoping some are fertile. (I have different breeds and mutts so I get lots of colors of eggs)

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

I have 4 hens and one rooster he is about one year old maybe. I know who lays what egg and who is his favorites. like I said she broke 2 this morning. they STUNK. I do see like an air sac in one. I just don't know what to do about these eggs. if I could see a picture of the egg at this stage for me to look at.

 

[bobbi-j]

These are the best pictures I've seen for incubation. They can be found at the Learning Center section of BYC. :https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/candling-pics-progression-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs

 

[tastybabies]

Tried to attach you a picture of some of mine, theyre due the 6th. throw out any that are clear. They should have large dark forms in there by 19 days, they should have some veins in there but near the end the eggs can sometimes be so full of baby you cant see much except maybe a thin line below the air bubble. take an egg inside in a very dark room and candle it using a very strong LED. i use the one on my phone. works great. you should be able to see a baby moving. you can scratch on the side of the shell a couple times to see if it wakes them.

 

[the3ofus+oursixchicks]

these are great I can see an air sac in one of my eggs really well. I cant really see any veins. I see dark blobs in them but, at this stage they should be taking up a big part of the egg right?

 

[bobbi-j]

Yes. Look at the Day 18 pics. You'll see an air sac, and the rest of the egg is dark. You might see some veining around the edge of the air sac. Without pictures, I can only guess that what you're seeing is yolk floating around in your eggs. I suspect that they're duds.