Are my egg/embryos still alive?

[amorgan]

I have a young broody who started sitting on eggs several weeks ago. For the first 2 weeks she was sitting on fake eggs because I didn't think she was serious, but then decided to give her 4 eggs to hatch when I realized she meant business. Over the past week and a half, I kept finding hee in a different nest box because someone would hop in there when she was out stretching her legs and she popped into a different box instead of waiting for hers to free up. About 4 days ago we had a cold spell where the temp dropped to 34 degrees and I found her on the wrong eggs again when I came home from work. I have no idea how long she was off of them, but they were cold. She's been on these eggs since April 14th and today one exploded under her. I tried to candle the others (something I'm not experienced with) but all I could see was an air pocket that takes a third of the egg and darkness. Shouldn't they be close to hatching and should I be seeing such a large pocket? Trying to decide if I need to take the other eggs from her and start over (not something I think she will be happy about), or stay the course.

 

[chonsey]

Stay the course you are on day 17, check the chart in the learning center. It should be dark, with an air cell - They should hatch in the next 4 days or so.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

My pen and paper says that your eggs have been in the incubation process now for 17 or 18 days. While it is possible for the embryos to overcome a boo-boo or two it is unlikely that they will overcome many such negative events like you mentioned.

The whole idea of free range chickens is to raise chickens like chickens raise themselves. In nature or in real free range conditions hens secret their nest away from the prying eyes of predators (humans included) as well as from the envious glare of other hens. This is why it is almost always necessary to isolate a hen in a natal pen in order to get a good hatch. Too many cooks spoil the dish as surely as too many hens will mess up the hatch.

This is another reason to set full clutches of eggs because with 15 or so eggs in a nest there is a larger pocket of residual heat available to help carry the eggs over a cooling event.

 

[amorgan]

Thought I'd give an update. The eggs never hatched. I even let her sit on them for an extra 5 days, just in case. Got rid of them and made her get up and move about. Gonna try to keep her off a nest if I can because it seems her chest is a bit swollen and kinda squishy. Hoping it's just because she's been sitting for almost 6 wks. I do have a natal pen now all set up and ready, so maybe next time!