. There was a terrible stench in the bator and fearing an explosion I decided, after being unable to determine which egg stunk, to terminate the the remaining 9 eggs in the bator. On the way to the BSF breeder the explosion occurred...in my hands. OMG...indescribable stench...all over me. The rest went into the BSF breeder and unfortunately there were 3 viable embryos. Now there are 18 chicks of progressive ages in the house and all doing well. I have now successfully grafted chicks as late as 2 weeks after initial hatch. The four hens sharing mommy duty are doing a great job. It's a shame that they will be going to freezer camp when they finish raising these chicks. Thanks to all who offered advice and encouragement to a bator man, esp fisher lady, who never had a broody but had to see how it went. Learned a lot.ok. so I decided to take the broody out for some water and food but when I was lifting her, a chick dropped from her behind, so I had to put her right back. candled another egg which does not look like its ready for another couple of days, so don't know what to do. I'll let nature take its course. Hand fed and put water right in front of her which she drank copiously. Will hand feed and water her in the morning again. Hopefully some more will hatch overnight.
I think you've discovered your best course of action...let her sit and hand feed water her a couple of times over the next couple of days.
I am wondering why it is taking so long though. If the other eggs do hatch it will be on day 23. Is it because she had too many eggs and she wasnt able to cover them properly? Is it because I have them on straw and not on pine shavings? or is it because she left her nest for 4 hrs on Day 6 and that may have caused some development to freeze and re-start? Many questions, will keep on wondering!
If you are confident that they were all set at the same time...then yes, it could be she had trouble covering them, or more likely they got a little cold on that 4 hour lapse but not cold enough to kill them...it may have simply delayed development.
At day 7, if you have a bright LED type flashlight, you should see a peanut in the middle with veins radiating out on the developing eggs even with the Marans eggs unless they are very dark on the Marans scale (mine were about a 5). You should be able to make out the RIR egg fairly easy...Marans eggs are much tougher so all I can generally see is a vein or 2 of a smudgy shadow in the middle. If I see veins, I know I've got success. Then I look for a greater developing air cell at the fat end with dark mass at the pointy end which grows bigger as time progresses.
