Broody Hen Off Eggs In The Middle Of Winter! No Incubator! Please help!

[micstrachan]

Wow, fascinating thread!

 

[lena_]

Wow, fascinating thread!

Sure hoping it goes well. Feel free to join in the ride

Update:
Both eggs are nice and warm, a perfect 37 degrees Celsius. I'm not sure how parents are going to react to this, but they are not going to be happy. I have to go to my dad's house for the day tommorow(My parents are divorced)
Will travel affect the eggs?
How often do I need to turn the eggs?
Do I need to worry about humidity?
Fingers crossed they don't force me to get rid of the eggs, both are still wriggling BTW(My last candle I promise)
Do you think I should move this thread to the incubation forum, as an 'expiriment' of sorts?

 

[lena_]

Another Update:
It's been around six(?) hours since I put the eggs in and they are both still alive! I'm trying not to get my hopes up to much, hoping that they'll make it through the night. It's 7:11 Pm in NZ. My setup is very simple: A small draw with my hot water bottle and a blanket insulating it. It keeps the eggs nice and warm, fingers crossed you guys.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

The eggs definitely wont quit so fast as that. Unless things are VERY dry I would not worry about humidity yet. If things ARE very dry, once a day a single spray from a spray bottle should be more than sufficient as long as the eggs are closed up most of the time. You can start to weigh the eggs and see how much water they are/aren't losing and see if they are on track with a water loss chart.

38 will not hurt the eggs, especially if it is 38 right where the heat is. If it is 38 at the point farthest from the source of heat that could be a problem.

Still air incubation likes 101(38.4ish)-101.5(38.6ish) at the point the eggs are closest to the heat. I would treat this as a still air operation.

The eggs can probably handle very careful travel, a little jostling won't hurt them too much as long as you are gentle. I would prepare them a travel box. A cardboard box the size of your water bottle with another slightly bigger box around it. Fill in the gaps with plastic bags or crumpled newspaper and put a little underneath between the two boxes as well. These materials will act like shocks on a car, transferring the motion from the outer box into the easily collapsing padding material and not the inner box as mach, keeping the motion from being so dramatic on it's contents. Then take a couple tea/kitchen towels and make individual nests for each egg so they have a little pocket of towel where they can't touch each other just above the hot water bottle because if they bump into each other they may break. Then pack the blanket in on top so they can't bounce out.

Chickens turn their eggs constantly, but for you I would say turn them 3-5 times a day. Always turn them an odd number of times so that they rest on a different side each night before you go to sleep.

 

[lena_]

The eggs definitely wont quit so fast as that. Unless things are VERY dry I would not worry about humidity yet. If things ARE very dry, once a day a single spray from a spray bottle should be more than sufficient as long as the eggs are closed up most of the time. You can start to weigh the eggs and see how much water they are/aren't losing and see if they are on track with a water loss chart.

38 will not hurt the eggs, especially if it is 38 right where the heat is. If it is 38 at the point farthest from the source of heat that could be a problem.

Still air incubation likes 101(38.4ish)-101.5(38.6ish) at the point the eggs are closest to the heat. I would treat this as a still air operation.

The eggs can probably handle very careful travel, a little jostling won't hurt them too much as long as you are gentle. I would prepare them a travel box. A cardboard box the size of your water bottle with another slightly bigger box around it. Fill in the gaps with plastic bags or crumpled newspaper and put a little underneath between the two boxes as well. These materials will act like shocks on a car, transferring the motion from the outer box into the easily collapsing padding material and not the inner box as mach, keeping the motion from being so dramatic on it's contents. Then take a couple tea/kitchen towels and make individual nests for each egg so they have a little pocket of towel where they can't touch each other just above the hot water bottle because if they bump into each other they may break. Then pack the blanket in on top so they can't bounce out.

Chickens turn their eggs constantly, but for you I would say turn them 3-5 times a day. Always turn them an odd number of times so that they rest on a different side each night before you go to sleep.

Thank you! I candled, and I could see a tiny bit of movement, I think they survived the night! I dropped off to sleep only to find the bottle went lukewarm in the night, but the eggs were body temp. Parents were annoyed when I told them, but that's better then forcing me to throw the eggs out I guess?

Marielle was definitely sick from her long brood, her face was greyish and she just looked tired. She's regained some colour and is happily hanging out with her buddies.
I'll keep ya'all posted, going to dad's in a couple of hours...

 

[lilmillefleur]

I hope your eggs hatch! I have never seen such dedication to hatching eggs!

 

[lena_]

Update:
I'm pretty sure one egg has a blood ring I thought it looked a bit iffy before when Marielle was sitting... The other egg on the other hand wiggles when I shine the light into it, I'm surprised it's made it this far. Went to Dad's house today, it was pretty chilly in the house but the eggs were fine.
I'm doing my best, seriously miss my old incubator...

 

[lena_]

Another update:
The eggs got a bit chilly for about half an hour, hope it won't kill my viable one. I'll candle in the morning.

 

[Kiki]

No luck on anyone going broody?

 

[lena_]

No luck on anyone going broody?

Unfortunately, no. None of my hens have any interest in going broody at the moment.I asked on facebook about an incubator, but didn't get anything in response. I hope my little egg makes it, but I'm not sure it will.