Broody hatch novice

[kari_dawn]

I have a hen that has been sitting on like, nearly 30 eggs (its a long story ). The first one hatched yesterday. A second one several hours later, and a third this morning. I don't see any other pips. How long do I let her keep sitting on those eggs? How do I know when I can start chucking duds? How do I know they're duds, and do I remove them and stick the non-duds in an incubator after letting her sit a while longer?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That's too big of a clutch for all eggs to be covered and turned properly. You will get a low hatch rate. The broody will generally abandon the nest after the second day after the first hatched. You can candle the rest to see if they are good or not. I generally get rid of unhatched eggs on day 23.

 

[kari_dawn]

yep. it's a lot of eggs. 41 of them -_-.

She actually managed to cover them all. There were 2 duds in the whole thing...I actually candled them today...one had broken through the air cell and was chirping in the egg, so it's probably on its' way....seven crested cream legbar eggs are viable, but way newer than the other eggs, and a handful are close-ish...I am not super good at guessing on length of time they've been incubating, so I am not quite sure what to do with them.

Basically, my chicken sitter didn't know any better, and she hoarded eggs while I was out of town, and they're all of unknown ages. I have pulled the least developed eggs...it makes me feel kinda bad...all seven of them are from my crested cream legbars. I DO have an incubator, but it's a tiny, cheapy one that only holds four chicken eggs....I think maybe I will candle them again at the end of tomorrow, see if she's still sitting, if she's not, pull the four that are the furthest along and put them in the incubator? But what to do with the rest?

 

[Perris]

what a sad predicament Since she's done much better than would be expected thus far, you could leave it to her...? When she abandons the nest to take the chicks out, then choose the four to try to complete in your incubator?

 

[Toothpick]

Yup, to many eggs. She’ll get off the nest when she’s ready. Chicks can go roughly 3 days without water so I think hens know “hey, time to get my butt in gear” and start taking are of the chicks that hatched.

I’ve had a few hens sit and I just pitched the eggs once they got of them.

 

[kari_dawn]

I've already established that this nest got too large. That's not what I am asking.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I've already established that this nest got too large. That's not what I am asking.

You could go get one of those cheap Styrofoam incubators and give that a try. It is a frustrating situation. It all depends on if you want to save them or not.

Another option is to pull the chicks and the hen may continue to set. Just keep pulling chicks as they hatch and you brood them. She should continue to set if she hasn't already left the nest.

 

[kari_dawn]

So I looked for a cheap styrofoam incubator, and couldn't find one...the broody is definitely off the nest today, so I decided to experiment. I made a brooder. It cost me less than $20, and seems to be working. So far, 1 more splash marans has hatched, and another olive egger is on the way. *shrug* best I've got. I plan on sticking these 2 chicks under mom tonight.

 

[kari_dawn]

Update: you can probably tell from that pic, the olive egg chick was breached. It didn't break through the air cell at all. I have been monitoring this chick all day, and pouring over information in this forum, as not only am I a broody hatch novice, I have almost zero experience with using an incubator. After more than 12 hours of zero progress, I began helping this chick. The membrane was beginning to look dry, so I began to periodically moisten it. I picked small pieces of shell in a clockwise fashion from the pip, and then the outer membrane. Very slowly, as to not tear the inner membrane. I nicked a vessel, put some wonder dust on it, and let the chick rest.

Exposed and visible vessels on the other side of the egg gave me a good way to monitor absorption. After the chick had rested, I slowly worked my way around the rest of the egg, making a "cap". The chick didn't really struggle or push at first, so I pushed the now two halves of the shell gently apart, then let the chick rest some more. The chick has been pushing a little off and on, but not very vigorously. It finally pushed the cap off, and slipped out of the wide part of the egg. There is a bit of yolk visible still, so I kind of put the chick back into the wide part of the shell, on a damp paper towel in the incubator. Hopefully, this chick pulls through. I have been at this for hours and hours! I am going to stay up and keep an eye on this little guy. Fingers crossed this chick does okay!

 

[kari_dawn]

Some images I grabbed along the way