Can a small air cell be because the chick is too big for the egg?

[chameleon]

My hen is setting 9 eggs. Her roo died about 4 weeks before whe went broody on 11 eggs. About 1 week before she went broody there was a large rooster hanging around, but she kept running from him so I didn't think he had much success. She's a bantam by the way, but she lays medium sized eggs. Here is one of her eggs (the white one) next to a store bought medium egg:

I candled her eggs on day 5 and removed the only 2 that weren't developing. I was surprised that so many were fertile with the roo being gone for so long, but she is an amazing broody.

I candled her eggs again today, day 10, and on most of them the air cells have gotten bigger, but on two of them they are still virtually the same. The chicks inside are developing well and very active. Could this mean that two of the eggs were fertilised by the larger rooster, or could there be some other explanation? And will these eggs be ok?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My hen is setting 9 eggs. Her roo died about 4 weeks before whe went broody on 11 eggs. About 1 week before she went broody there was a large rooster hanging around, but she kept running from him so I didn't think he had much success. She's a bantam by the way, but she lays medium sized eggs. Here is one of her eggs (the white one) next to a store bought medium egg: I candled her eggs on day 5 and removed the only 2 that weren't developing. I was surprised that so many were fertile with the roo being gone for so long, but she is an amazing broody. I candled her eggs again today, day 10, and on most of them the air cells have gotten bigger, but on two of them they are still virtually the same. The chicks inside are developing well and very active. Could this mean that two of the eggs were fertilised by the larger rooster, or could there be some other explanation? And will these eggs be ok?

The shells on the two that aren't loosing as much are probably thicker, less porous so moisture loss is slower. There's not much you can do in regards to humidity with broodies. Just wait and see how it goes. At hatch time the air cells draw down significantly, so even smaller air cells have a fair chance as long as draw down occurs.

 

[chickens really]

The Hen is the Best incubator around....Have no worries.....This is my third Broody hatching for me this winter.....I have not candled any eggs yet....I have had 100% hatch rate with my Hens....

They seem to know what to do with the eggs...I never interfere......


Best of luck!....


Cheers!

 

[chameleon]

The shells on the two that aren't loosing as much are probably thicker, less porous so moisture loss is slower. There's not much you can do in regards to humidity with broodies. Just wait and see how it goes. At hatch time the air cells draw down significantly, so even smaller air cells have a fair chance as long as draw down occurs.

Thanks, some did appear more porous than others when I was candling, but I didn't pay attention to if those were the same ones that were smaller, it's probably that then.

 

[chameleon]

The Hen is the Best incubator around....Have no worries.....This is my third Broody hatching for me this winter.....I have not candled any eggs yet....I have had 100% hatch rate with my Hens....

They seem to know what to do with the eggs...I never interfere......

Best of luck!....

Cheers!

Thanks! This broody is also an excellent mother and has excellent hatch rates. I normally don't interfere either, but I was so anxious for these to hatch, and worried they wouldn't because there was no rooster around for a month, that I just had to check. I also wanted to see if they were fertile because if they weren't, I wanted to get her some fertile eggs to hatch, as she's all alone since the roo died. But yeah, because of her unfortunate circumstances this time round I've been paranoid. So far so good though, so I think I'll leave her be for now

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Thanks, some did appear more porous than others when I was candling, but I didn't pay attention to if those were the same ones that were smaller, it's probably that then.

The more porous spotty looking ones should be the ones with bigger air cells if that's the case.

 

[chameleon]

Hey, I thought I'd post a small update. All 9 eggs hatched 2 weeks ago and are thriving.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

Hey, I thought I'd post a small update. All 9 eggs hatched 2 weeks ago and are thriving.

That's awesome! Congrats! I love my nns.