Broody hen is very patient with late development hatch. Should I wait this out?

[Leilukka]

I have a broody hen that I had placed 14 eggs under her on the 17th of June. 12 eggs went missing and she has 2 eggs left. I thought that the 11th would be hatching day. Nothing had hatched. I candled these 2 eggs when she was taking her break. One looked totally filled up with a chipping sound inside. No pipping yet. So, there was life there. The other egg had some more developing left to do. There was around a centimeter of space left in the air sac of that egg. The chick was moving inside.

She is still very dedicated at sitting on these eggs. It has now been more than 21 days and I am assuming these chicks are slow developers. I do not smell any rotten egg smell, so they must still be alive.

Should I still wait this out?

At the Russell Feed Store, they have 3 day old chicks there. Is 3 days old too old? I think that if I put a chick under her that she will abandon these slow developers though. I kind of want to give these two a good fighting chance.

Let's pray these 2 hatching eggs make it.

I guess I'll have nature take it's course? Shall I wait for her to abandon the eggs on her own?

 

[Muser]

I've heard that some chicks take a little longer and should hatch between 21 and 24 days. Maybe wait a few days longer just in case All that hard work for nothing would be sad for your broody girl! <3

 

[SueT]

I think she'll stay on them. And I think 3 days may be too old...

 

[SueT]

Is it possible a snake got the other eggs? I recently removed a snake that was heading twd a mama hen w a chick under her.

 

[Leilukka]

Thank you for your comments, everyone. It was helpful advice. I decided to let nature take it's course and let her stay sitting on them. I did not get a chick.

 

[Muser]

I hope you wake up today to some fuzzy butted chirpers! Good luck x

 

[Muser]

That's a shame that no chicks hatched How's your hen doing, has she moved off the nest or is she still trying to brood?

 

[Leilukka]

That's a shame that no chicks hatched How's your hen doing, has she moved off the nest or is she still trying to brood?

Today is day 35 and she is still trying to sit and brood on an egg that has not pipped. I had checked on it when she was taking her last break a few days ago. The embryo still had what I thought to be around 7 days left or so. It was still moving around in the egg and breathing. So, this is very perplexing to me. I had set 14 eggs for her on the 17th of June!?! I guess she's still trying. As an example, I know that muscovy ducks take 35 days to hatch and that chickens will sit on duck eggs. So, 35 days is not too much of a stretch from the usual 21 days. We don't have any muscovy duck eggs under her. I was just using that as an example. She is really brooding hard.

 

[Muser]

That's very strange, she couldn't have snuck an egg from somewhere after the 17th? Chickens do like to steal eggs to brood on. Maybe this one she stole after the others went missing. Or this a new chapter in the ugly duckling story haha. Is it still moving around/growing now?

 

[Leilukka]

That's very strange, she couldn't have snuck an egg from somewhere after the 17th? Chickens do like to steal eggs to brood on. Maybe this one she stole after the others went missing. Or this a new chapter in the ugly duckling story haha. Is it still moving around/growing now?

The last two eggs didn't make it either. She collected newer eggs and is still broody on those that were collected. This girl has been brooding since June 17th. I keep water and food in front of her at all times. There are 6 newer eggs now under her. She hasn't left the nest for about 5 days now. I'm waiting for her to stretch her legs so that I can candle these eggs to figure out where we are in the process.