A Mess of a Hatch

[Mylied]

My showgirl went broody and I wasn't pay much attention because I thought it'd be neat for her to hatch out eggs, so I didn't count how many were under her. I also wasn't so great at removing new eggs from the area. Well, a hawk got in and scared the mess out of her so she quit her broodiness. The eggs were developing and I didn't want to toss them so I put them in my incubator. There was 15. I candled them yesterday, on what I estimated to be day 10. The development is all over the place. Some look like they could be day 12 or 13. Some look maybe day 5. Then there's development ranging between those. One had a minor crack with a dead embryo, so I tossed it. One didn't develop. So I have 13 eggs. I have only one incubator. Any tips on getting them to hatch successfully without knowing the actual dates? Thanks!

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Does your incubator have a turner? I would mark the eggs according to where I think they are in development, hand turn them until Day 18 when you then leave them alone, but keep turning the rest until they're at lockdown age too.

Also, when the most developed eggs appear to be at day 18/19 you should get the humidity as high as possible without being so high as to harm the younger ones. So, maybe 45% and expect to assist hatches. Really, that humidity is too high for eggs under day 18, but at this point you don't have too much of a choice.

Please keep me updated, and feel free to ask any more questions!

 

[Mylied]

I hand turn them. That's a good idea about marking them. Thanks for the advice! I'll hope for the best.

 

[Mylied]

I candled them again. Looks like half are 15 days, a couple are 12 days, a few 10 days, and one looks 8 days. One of the 12 days might have passed. I don't see movement but I'm going to leave it a few more days. One of the 10 days looks odd. I can't pinpoint what it is but something looks off. It's moving though so I'm just keeping an eye on it.

 

[AmericanMom]

Several years ago I had a broody, I separated her to the grain room and let her be.. A couple weeks later I was out there and she happened to be up eating, took a quick peek and she had four more eggs under her! Here is what I did...

When the broodys eggs started hatching (on time) I took those four later eggs and put them in the house. I had set up a box in my bathroom with a heat lamp, I adjusted the light until the temp read 100 and stayed that way. I took the four newer eggs and placed them in the brooder thinking the whole time there would be no way they could hatch but that I was giving them a better chance then they would have under the broody. I candled every day and it looked like they were 3-4 days behind, when the first one pipped I got the humidity up in the bathroom and then to help it stay stable I plugged in a humidifier.. believe it or not but 3/4 of those eggs hatched! I let them dry off and then at night took them out and gave them to the broody whose chicks were 3-4 days old. She raised them all just fine.

Found out my daughter decided she wanted to give her some more eggs so a few days after she had started sitting she gave her some lol..

 

[Mylied]

That's neat that you hatched them without an incubator. Honestly, I'm not holding my breath for the younger eggs. Last time I had a couple eggs that were just two days behind, but when the older chicks hatched, they knocked them around and the babies ended up getting malpositioned and died. I eggtopsied them when they didn't pip or hatch a few days later. I do plan on putting these eggs in an egg carton in the incubator tomorrow and hope that being stabilized helps. Thank you for your story!

 

[Mylied]

One pipped this morning and I'm impatiently waiting on it to hatch.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

Great!

 

[Mylied]

I have three that pipped yesterday and none that have hatched yet. All are peeping and alive. Wish they would hatch already.

 

[TheKindaFarmGal]

I know exactly what you mean! When I have chicks hatching I have a hard time not checking every five minutes, and when they take a long time I feel like I'm going to go crazy if they don't hatch soon!

After 24 hours if there isn't any progress you might want to peel off a little shell without injuring the membrane. Hope all goes well!