*** AUGUST HATCH-A-LONG come join in ***

[clothdiaperingmom]

Oh, so sorry to hear!!!

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I'm so sorry!

 

[SkyWarrior]

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[Chicken Crazy12]

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Is there an odor to the egg? It sounds weird, but just pick the egg up and smell the shell of the egg. If there's an odor then you probably have a dud that needs to be discarded quickly. As they rot they do start to turn a gray color. I always candle my eggs just before lock down one last time, to make sure I've got only good eggs in there. If you watch closely you can see the chicks breath in the egg and then leave them be for lockdown. Occasionally you miss a clear egg or the embryos die before they make it to hatch. It happens, but I'de def make sure it wasn't sitting in there rotting.

 

[jossanne]

I candled last night on day 5. My silkie mama laid 12 eggs since her last time being broody, and I saved them all to hatch. I put each egg in a carton on my counter as they were laid, so some sat there for 3+ weeks, and my house is pretty warm. Very warm, actually. I placed all eggs under her, with fingers crossed, and 7 are developing. I'm not surprised they're not all growing, since some of them were aging.

Anyway, I've got 7 silkie babies growing on day 6. YAY for silkies!

 

[abooth]

Disappointing hatch day here. I went out to the broody coop this morning. My mom saw the broody standing up while I was out feeding the sheep. She screams at me that we hhave a pip! So I went to check on her. She was up and eating when I got there. I looked at the eggs and there were only five there. This hen is all alone in ths coop and started with 7 eggs. I recently noticed one had disappeared but now two are gone. So I did a little snooping around in her coop. I found a little dead chick. I couldn't tell if it hatched and then died or if the hen killed it. There was no sign of the shell. So I think she at least ate the shell. On the bright side two were pipped and I could see they were making progress. Tonight I went to check on her. She was sitting tight but I have no idea what is going on in there.

 

[JulieZ]

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Crazy12 ... there's no odor to the incubator or egg shell. I'm really worried about this so I'll be watching vigil tonight. If it gets worse, I'll be pulling it out. My hopes are running low right now.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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If you think the hen may have killed the chick, I would remove the eggs and relocate them in the incubator! I had a Broody BO hen once and she killed all her chicks! It was horrible!

 

[abooth]

Mrs. FP I don't think the hen actively killed the chick. It didn't looked pecked or anything. I think it might have gotten squished or something. Anyway I only got the eggs so the hen could do her broody thing. I have no interest in hand raising chicks. Although I bet my silkies would take them. In the morning I will reassess. Thanks.

 

[jossanne]

Mrs. Fluffy Puffy :

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If you think the hen may have killed the chick, I would remove the eggs and relocate them in the incubator! I had a Broody BO hen once and she killed all her chicks! It was horrible!

I also had a broody that killed all her chicks once.

BUT...
I also had a broody who killed a chick and then had the rest hatch successfully. It was her first time being broody, and I think the egg may have been accidentally broken and then she picked at it out of curiosity and got carried away. I dunno. But she hatched 5 out alive and healthy after that. If she's sitting tight, I'd just watch really closely.​