Broody decided she’s done - left eggs - what now?

[BadPenny]

I’ve posted to my state thread looking for an incubator to borrow but in the event I can’t get one?
Long story short, 12 eggs candled last weekend all looked viable - 10 looked to have a week or so left. (They’re various silkie x bantam crosses so about 19 day incubation). 2 are much much younger (broody takes eggs from her sisters’ nests, even after she’s been on a clutch for a while - we’ve caught her at it). Four chicks have hatched between Friday and this morning and she’s now off the other ones.
Anything I can do without an incubator?
Thanks for any advice (up to and including- let it it go)

 

[sourland]

Sadly this is what happens with staggered hatches. Without an incubator it is difficult to provide proper temperature and humidity. You can try a light bulb or hot water bottle, but must carefully monitor temperature. Too low is better than too high. Good luck.

 

[BadPenny]

Sadly this is what happens with staggered hatches. Without an incubator it is difficult to provide proper temperature and humidity. You can try a light bulb or hot water bottle, but must carefully monitor temperature. Too low is better than too high. Good luck.

I decided to give it 24hrs or so, and if we didn't get an incubator, so be it.
Well, I used a hot water bottle at blood heat (because it turns out that I have no reliable thermometers in my house), changing out the bottle every few hours with a little nest of surgical towels over the top. By Monday morning, one egg had pipped and was chirping loudly. We managed to get an incubator from someone a few towns away last night, and by this afternoon we had this:

I popped it under mom with the other chicks this evening.
Of course, the two eggs that weren't as far along died before we got the incubator. The other five are still in the incubator, and I can hear faint chirps and someone hammering on a shell, so perhaps we'll get another as well. If not, one extra chick is still a wonderful thing!

 

[sourland]

Great update !

 

[Jaimes09]

I decided to give it 24hrs or so, and if we didn't get an incubator, so be it.
Well, I used a hot water bottle at blood heat (because it turns out that I have no reliable thermometers in my house), changing out the bottle every few hours with a little nest of surgical towels over the top. By Monday morning, one egg had pipped and was chirping loudly. We managed to get an incubator from someone a few towns away last night, and by this afternoon we had this:
View attachment 2841850
I popped it under mom with the other chicks this evening.
Of course, the two eggs that weren't as far along died before we got the incubator. The other five are still in the incubator, and I can hear faint chirps and someone hammering on a shell, so perhaps we'll get another as well. If not, one extra chick is still a wonderful thing!

Hey can we get an update on the rest? How’d it go! Im hatching my first 3 eggs and im on day 13 and im sooo excited

 

[kaleighmarie1213]

How are they doing??

 

[BadPenny]

Hey can we get an update on the rest? How’d it go! Im hatching my first 3 eggs and im on day 13 and im sooo excited

Well, only that one hatched of the retrieved eggs. I gave the others two more days and nothing happened, so they went out on the big compost heap.
I'll get a photo of the one that did hatch out with its mom and siblings. It was initially MUCH smaller than the sibs (being at least a week younger than its oldest sibling), now I can't tell it from it's siblings. It is healthy, hardy, and eating everything in sight, as are all the chicks from that clutch.
In even better news, mom hasn't walked out on these chicks; she abandoned her first clutch when they were 4 weeks old.