Advice on hatchin needed

[amzevans]

How long shall I leave the eggs before I assume they won't hatch? X

 

[sumi]

The hen will get up 2-3 days after the first chicks hatched. If there are any eggs left they may or may not hatch still. You can candle them and check if they are viable. I've had an egg hatch under a broody hen on day 25 once, so anything can happen up 'till then really. Hopefully they will all hatch before she gets up though. How are they doing now and how many hatched so far?

 

[amzevans]

It's been a tense morning so far and I don't know if I did right thing but it felt right at time. There are 3 now. 1 of which has spent last hour on my lap in a flannel. When I went to check this morning it had fallen off lip of nest box and was obv too weak to get back. It was very cold and I thought it was dead but wasn't happy to just accept that so kept him/her warm. Now back under mum and chirping away. Has now been named lucky. 1 more egg is pipping but no sign of pipping on the other two. I will check on them before bed tonight but won't move her just check none have fallen out of nest box x

This is lucky with my 4 year old son who was very grown up about me being in tears x

 

[amzevans]

Lucky closer up and getting stronger

 

[sumi]

Poor little thing, I'm glad you got to it in time!

 

[amzevans]

Me too. I don't think I'll stop worrying until they have grown up lol. I feel bad that it's somehow my fault but my husband seems to think it was just that it couldn't get back into the nest. It's very chirpy now though definitely lucky just hope this 4th chick makes its way out. I hope that by some miracle the other two will start pipping today too. I know that 3 eggs were a day older than the others but they all went under her at same time. Not sure if that makes a difference x

 

[sumi]

Older eggs can take longer to hatch, but not very much and it depends on how old the eggs are. I've read that on average they need an extra hour incubation time per day stored after 3 days storage. So i.e. if they were 6 days old when you set them, they need 3 extra hours. But I've found that eggs of the same age set at the same time hatch over a 48 hour + period anyway. So don't worry too much about that. See if you can fit something over the bottom of the nest box, like a plank maybe, to stop them falling out?

 

[amzevans]

I was mistaken the 3 eggs left haven't started pipping its something stuck to the shell :-/ hope they do hatch x

 

[amzevans]

:-( sad to say my broody left the last 3 eggs. When I candled them one hadn't developed and 2 ha but weren't moving. I opened them up to see what went wrong and one hadn't formed completely and the other was deformed :-(. The 3 that hatched are doing well. Even little lucky. X

 

[sumi]

That's a pity! But at least you got 3 fluffy butts to enjoy.