Broody hen dead eggs?

[Organic_Mama]

Ok, so I have (had?) 2 hens sitting on nests. The first hen gave up 3 days before the eggs were due. I didn't realize she'd given up entirely, I just thought she was giving them room to hatch. Once I figure it out, I put them under the other hen... but I don't know how to tell if they're still alive or not??

How long does it take for them to die if they get cold?

Also, since this first hatch didn't go well. Anyone have pointers for my other hen sitting on her nest? They're due next week sometime.

Thanks in advance!
~Shannon

 

[cochins1088]

You can candle them to see if they are alive or not. Just take a flashlight and during the night, walk down and shine it in each individual egg. At that point they should be completely dark with the air sac and you should see movement, but even if you don't see the movement, I wouldn't throw them. You can also smell them to check for rotton eggs. If one skinks then throw it, you will know if its rotten, it's a horrible smell. They can last pretty long at that point since they are producing their own body heat. I actually have a story about that, I had a bunch of broody hens hatching in the back of the coop and I saw an egg in the center of the back. I was pretty sure a hen just laid a fresh egg there for no reason like they sometimes do but I thought I should candle it just to be safe. Well I didn't, I forgot about it and left it on the kitchen table, we then went camping. 3 days later I crack the egg knowing the possiblity and the poor baby at day 18 is still alive and moving and of course bleeding. Obviously I couldn't save it but I've heard other storys of chicks surviving days out of the incubator depending on how cold it gets. And for the advice, I hate using broodies because they give up sometimes and rotten eggs seem more common, I rarely get a good hatch by just leaving them. (I mainly use incubators) However recently I've been separating them out into large dog crates. They have penty of room to move around and eat and drink, but not too much. Their eggs are just about the only thing to do and they don't give up on them. Many times all they want to do is sit on their eggs anyways.

 

[Organic_Mama]

Thanks for your help! I checked them and they were stinky. When I tossed them, I checked them out and they were smaller than they should have been. So they died a while ago...

Is it possible that I killed them by trying to wash them? At one point an egg cracked and she'd pooped all over the next, so I gently washed the eggs in warmish water....

Now my new problem is that the heat just killed my other broody hen Do you think if I stick another hen in the box she'd sit on them? Or does anyone know of something I can rig up to keep them warm enough?

Thanks!!
~Shannon

 

[cochins1088]

It's possible that the washing did it. When you wash them, it takes off that protective membrane around the shell. I always wash my incubator eggs but the incubator is sterile. There are loads of bateria in her nest and on herself and when you take away that membrane, they can invade and kill the embryo. I actually just washed mine from a broody because I didn't catch a rotten egg on time and it exploded all over the other eggs and herself. She got a bath, and I cleaned the eggs, I'm not very confident that they will hatch, but I still have hopes. It's good that you caught those bad eggs, they could have also exploded on her and it's one big horrible mess to clean up.

You can try another hen, we have cochins which are annoyingly broody, and we try to stop them most of the time, so if you give them eggs, they will sit on them but a lot of breeds are not like that and some have even had the broody instinct bred out of them. If they are close the hatching, you could try to rig up some sort of temporary incubator, I'm not sure how to hold up humidity, but just a heat lamp over a box could potenially keep them at 100 degrees. You would have to play with it to get it at the right temp. but its very possible. maybe have trays of water sitting around them? not sure. But to hatch, they should be at 100 degrees the whole time and with 45% humidity from day 0 to day 18, and 65 - 70% for days 18 to day 21. Before you said one hen only had three days left, I would definately try this with those since they are sooo close to hatching. I have had chicks hatch in low humidity in the past. Some will not make it without human intervention but some would. So if its your best bet and no hens will take them, use a heat lamp and a box at 100 degrees and maybe some water trays spread around.