Broody Chicken Incubator

[Wavy]

Hello everyone! This is pretty much my first post so I’m sorry if it’s a little messy. I have a young flock of 7, it is my first time raising a flock to egg laying age. My last flock was composed of 4 roosters and 3 hens (yikes!) and when we got rid of the 2 mean roosters the hawks and foxes killed everyone before they stood a chance. Now I have 6 hens and 1 rooster. 2 of my hens are laying! Which was very exciting for me at first and still is.

I had one of my chickens go broody in November, when egg laying slows down a bit. One day I saw only one egg and decided to leave it there until I saw an egg from my other chicken, that never came. I thought since it’s so cold out, it wouldn’t even really develop. Eventually I had enough and took an egg out from my chicken, I held it against my brights (my only source of light at 6 pm) and saw some veins! Being pro choice, if a chicken wants this egg enough to sit on it in the winter, and if I have room for it, then so be it. I made her a 4 x 1.5 box in my room for her to brood in and raise the chick in until the spring. But I have been worried about the egg for awhile. I see a small dark embryo but the veins are gone! I have 2 of her eggs in the fridge from awhile ago but I’m not sure they would incubate well. I’m worried I made this box for nothing and I really want her to have her baby.
candling was taken 1-2 minutes ago.

 

[ValerieJ]

I would leave that egg under your broody and not candle it again. If it dies, it will smell bad. If you don't smell anything leave it alone. Some people take the eggs from their broodies to candle too often and that is a danger to the chick. Also, if it goes bad, she will know and she will push it out. Just let your broody do all the work. She knows what she is doing.

 

[Wavy]

I would leave that egg under your broody and not candle it again. If it dies, it will smell bad. If you don't smell anything leave it alone. Some people take the eggs from their broodies to candle too often and that is a danger to the chick. Also, if it goes bad, she will know and she will push it out. Just let your broody do all the work. She knows what she is doing.

I haven’t candled it to often. Did it twice today for the sake of a picture. But I won’t candle it again until January. How will she know though? She hasn’t done this before and I raised her as a chick without any other chickens nearby (unless you count the other 3 I was raising with her.). Is it just instinct? I also don’t see any air in there, which is sort of worrisome.

 

[ValerieJ]

It is instinctual. How long has she been sitting on this egg?

 

[Wavy]

It is instinctual. How long has she been sitting on this egg?

I first noticed Nov 17. It’s Dec 6th now.

 

[ValerieJ]

She has been sitting on this same egg constantly since November 17th" That would make the hatch date possibly Sunday. Chickens incubate in 21 days. That egg doesn't look like it's that far along to me.

Still my advice is to stop candling and leave it all to the broody. Candling is necessary when you are incubating in an incubator. But, I just watched a thread with someone who was candling the eggs under the broody and all her eggs died. It seemed to me that she was disturbing them too much. Taking them out makes them cold. The broody is the right temperature for them. Seriously, trillions of chickens have incubated chicks with no human intervention for eons.

 

[Wavy]

She has been sitting on this same egg constantly since November 17th" That would make the hatch date possibly Sunday. Chickens incubate in 21 days. That egg doesn't look like it's that far along to me.

Still my advice is to stop candling and leave it all to the broody. Candling is necessary when you are incubating in an incubator. But, I just watched a thread with someone who was candling the eggs under the broody and all her eggs died. It seemed to me that she was disturbing them too much. Taking them out makes them cold. The broody is the right temperature for them. Seriously, trillions of chickens have incubated chicks with no human intervention for eons.

My parents first chicken died being broody because she wasn’t getting up to get food or anything so Once a day I would pick her up and place her on the ground so she could stretch her legs and get some water (I gave her a food bowl). Once I picked her up and she brought the egg with her and it dropped. No cracks or anything, just dropped. I’m worried that may have done something negative. Nov 17 is accurateish. It was when I texted my friends the “baby in egg alert”. I don’t doubt her, it’s just she’s a little inexperienced, as am I.

 

[ValerieJ]

A broody will lose about 20% of her body weight when she is brooding because, yes, she will sit on the egg and forgo eating. When my hen was brooding I put food and water right in front of her like you have. Some people pull their broodies off the eggs to eat, drink and do their business. I just let Shirl decide what was best for her and her eggs. She was sitting on 4 eggs and during the last week of incubation, she pushed one of the eggs out from under her. I put it back, but next day she pushed it out again. It was her way of saying the chick had died. Shirl was not a year old at the time. It was her first experience at brooding. She did great. I didn't candle the eggs one time. I just trusted her.

 

[Wavy]

A broody will lose about 20% of her body weight when she is brooding because, yes, she will sit on the egg and forgo eating. When my hen was brooding I put food and water right in front of her like you have. Some people pull their broodies off the eggs to eat, drink and do their business. I just let Shirl decide what was best for her and her eggs. She was sitting on 4 eggs and during the last week of incubation, she pushed one of the eggs out from under her. I put it back, but next day she pushed it out again. It was her way of saying the chick had died. Shirl was not a year old at the time. It was her first experience at brooding. She did great. I didn't candle the eggs one time. I just trusted her.

Is there a chance the eggs I have in the fridge stand a chance? They have been in there for a month or more. Usually my parents eat them but I guess they haven’t eaten these yet.

 

[ValerieJ]

No. The eggs in the refrigerator have been in there way too long. I wouldn't put any other eggs under her now, because a staggered hatch will mean the abandonment of the eggs not hatched when she is ready to rear her baby.