Broody hen kills chicks, must incubate/hatch eggs myself - Help!

[jawinder]

No more eggs have hatched.
Either my temperature fluctuations were too great,
or the eggs weren't viable in the first place.
I've since read that when the hen is sitting on the eggs,
and you find one cold on the outside, not under her, that you should cull that one instead of poking it back under her, lest another one gets poked out later. I did not do that -- I always just poked them back under. Perhaps they stopped developing long ago...
I think tomorrow night I'll give up on these. I'll candle them first.
Thanks for your interest Sue Bee!

 

[jawinder]

"Well I'll be go to H%ll..." (to quote a cranky Alaskan fishing guide I once knew.)
I candled all of the eggs this morning, which narrowed it down to 3 that weren't clearly rotten (stinky!)
And wouldn't you know, while I had them in the dark bathroom with me, one peeped!!!!
That is after my incredibly amateur care-taking!
The little incubator I created in haste on Thursday from a cardboard box, washcloths, water dish, heat light from a gecko tank, and a dishtowel to cover the whole thing, has had huge temperature fluctuations if i didn't check it every 15 minutes (from 95 to 104). (I'll post a picture.)
I thought for sure these eggs weren't going to hatch, but hadn't given up quite yet....
Mother Nature is quite amazing, I must say!
Will keep you posted throughout the next 24 hours!
How are yours doing, SueBee?

 

[jawinder]

Whoops, I mean SoapJunkie! How are your eggs doing?

 

[suebee]

Wow J, That is amazing!!! Kind of reminds me of someone on the old byc board years ago. He lives in Texas and during the hot summer he accidentally left a bucket of eggs out. Weeks go by and while puttering around in the coop he hears peeping. He walks around the back of the coop and discovers the forgotten bucket of eggs....with baby chicks in it. True story!! So you just never know, right?

 

[jawinder]

This is my improvised, emergency incubator.
Yes, those are plastic wine glasses holding up the gecko light under a dishtowel.

 

[chickenreferee]

Very cool! Hope the three that are left make it out okay....and you'll always remember the day they hatched thanks to your makeshift bator!

 

[Soap Junkie]

Whoops, I mean SoapJunkie! How are your eggs doing?

I candeled yesterday (06/03/12) and all seem good! They are all about the same size and we saw movement in all but 1, and I am not sure if that was just a lazy one as it was the same size! Now I am kind of nervous cause I really was only thinkng I would get maybe 5 good ones and hopefully there would only be a few roosters bringing me a total of 3 new hens! Mama is still holding tight and I had to pull her off the eggs yesterday as she has not been off in 2 days. 11???

Thanks for asking Jawinder! Hatch date is 06/10 but I am thinking that some may start sooner as some how they seem bigger when candeling, I know for sure all eggs were laid on 05/20/12 as my friend collects daily, but 2 of them seemed to fill up nearly all the egg already? I guess we will see! Thank you for asking!

 

[Soap Junkie]

Do we have a hatch today?