Abandoned Eggs, Will they still hatch?

[brairgirl]

We went on vacation for like 12ish days, before we left we had a buff orpington on 7 duck eggs and about 3 chicken eggs. I put the ducks eggs under her a week before the chicken eggs, but 2 of the duck eggs were put under her two days after the other 5.

But we come back a couple days ago and she abandoned the eggs! They sat there for another day then we collected 154 eggs (I candled them all and deemed 143 had dead embryos or I wasn't sure about them so they got tossed, 11 were still safe to eat. ). That number excludes the 11 eggs, but we picked them up and we were careful with them. We took them back down and put them under another broody hen, which while we were gone 6 had become broody and of last night and this morning 2 more want to be too.

The dates that the eggs were supposed to hatch are the 11th-13th.
Also around here it has been really warm, warm enough that our 4 week old chicks don't want to stay under their mom at all during the day and only go under at night even though it is still like 70 degrees at night. I think she actually abandoned them the day or the day before we got back.

So my questions are:
1. Do they have any hope? Will they even still hatch?
2. Does having a cold period affect the date of hatching (if they even hatch)?

 

[brairgirl]

This is important question! :/

I candled a couple of the duck eggs and they are all black, except the air sac.

 

[sumi]

If they cooled down for a lengthy period it would've delayed the development of the embryos, but unless it got really cold it may not have killed them. I've had a strange experience once when a hen went broody, but left the eggs unattended during the day and only kept them warm at night. They hatched, but way over the normal 3 week mark and many of the chicks didn't make it. It was an interesting, if unpleasant, experience! But it showed me how tough these little creatures are and what they can go through and survive.

If the eggs showed up all black, like you said when you candled, it is the embryo filling the space in the egg. You may be able to see some veins also, just below the air sac. Hopefully they will be o.k. and will hatch, if a little late!

Please keep us posted!

 

[brairgirl]

Okay. I think that they might be okay because hens sat in that same roost box to lay eggs laying on the mentioned eggs.

I saw veins, I love seeing the veins!

 

[LTygress]

Veins are ALWAYS a good sign! It means they are still alive! Once the embryo dies, the veins disappear. Veins are actually my number 1 sign that an embryo is developing, if I candle them on Day 7. Some of my eggs have extremely thick and dark shells, but I can always make out the line of a vein or two - more so than the dark mass of an embryo!

I've had eggs go cold from a loss of power that lasted 48 hours! I left them in the incubator, and kept the incubator closed, but I saw the thermometer drop anyway. They only went down to about 60 degrees, and still turned out just fine. I've even had my incubator hit 108 degrees for a few hours (oops), but quickly fixed it and still had a 100% hatch-rate!

Chickens, chicks, and eggs, are SO much more hardy than we give them credit for!

 

[brairgirl]

Okay well good!

I hope that hen (the abandoner) wants to try to be broody again later. She would have made a good mother. Her sister will be an even better one, she is fierce in protecting her eggs, but I have actually never seen her get off of them. Though I imagine she is at some point.


Okay so with warm weather (like 80-90, but I have no idea about humidity), would they have still been developing? Well I would imagine so anyways because hens would sit on them to lay eggs even if it was for a short period of time. :/

 

[brairgirl]

I should have marked the eggs... Dumb me!
But.....


3 of the ducklings have broken through the into the air sac and are tapping at the inside of the egg! You can here them! I hope she hatches all of the eggs!!.. Our last Broody's hatch she hatched out all four eggs but my mom took the first two away and then they died :/ But the other two are about 4 1/2 weeks now and healthy!




EDIT:
One of the three ducklings hatched out already and still had a yolk sac attached! I made its self bleed and the mom picked at it a little. But she left it alone and it was still alive, but it died shortly. D: I hope no others hatch like that, but the other 2 pipped externally The other 4 eggs I am pretty sure are still alive but have not pipped internally yet, I am waiting for my dad to get home so I can use his better flash light to check for veins on the duck eggs and the chicken eggs... I left all 7 duck eggs under the one barred rock and the other broody barred rock has all the chicken eggs that have to same hatch date . The one brown egg (the rest are white) pipped externally! I know its bad, but I had to peel a little bit of shell off to make sure it was a pip not a puncture wound from the moms feet. But I didn't peel any membrane just a little bit of shell.

 

[brairgirl]

Darn it! The brown egg had got stepped on and the embryo was only the size of a half dollar

But one of the smaller white eggs is all dark except the air sac, you would be able to see through the yolk if it was still there right?

 

[brairgirl]

Crap.. We have 3 ducklings out of 7.

The first hatched too early, 3 hatched almost all the way and all died today. 2 with in the last 10 minutes :/

But at least we have 3 seemingly healthy ones

 

[brairgirl]

One of the ducklings died yesterday. None of the chicken eggs lived.... I think there was something wrong with them though (the chicks)..