Candeling chicken eggs - unsure age

[kaleighmarie1213]

I became a surrogate chicken mom last night for my inlaws. They have around 8 hens and one has been brooding until her babies hatched. These 3 eggs were sat on for about 3ish weeks with the other 2 that hatched 2 nights ago, but mom tended to her hatched chick's more than these eggs yesterday and we didn't want them getting cold tonight in the coop... we are not set up for incubating. We made a quick diy last night when I found them cold. I used a heating pad, towels, and a 24watt grow light (for my seedlings) in a tote box with a bowl of warm water I swap out every few hours for steam. I am not at all prepared for this.

No idea if they're viable, or if they're from the same incubation time even as there are many hens who lay and the eggs are different colors and sizes than the ones who hatched... but we are giving it our best shot for a couple days to see if they just needed more time.

Initially I believe the brown egg has died. I see blood spot and no movement. The other 2 I think one wasn't fertilized or is very early. The other is a shadow but I don't see veins... any advice?

Here's mama with her other 2 last night.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

I'd say your two greens are not worth pursuing.

The brown looks to be about 18 days old - within range of internal pipping time- so I'd be pursuing that one! Not possible to tell with a photo, but I'd be looking for any kind of movement of the beak to assess if the chick is still living. Keep incubating it as best you can and pop the humidity up to aid hatching. The air cells look ok.

Best Of Luck!!!

 

[kaleighmarie1213]

Just wanted to add I am surprised but I'm able to keep them warm enough, I got a 99f on all of them. But I have no way to measure humidity.

 

[The Kooky Kiwi]

Just wanted to add I am surprised but I'm able to keep them warm enough, I got a 99f on all of them. But I have no way to measure humidity.

In my smaller cheaper incubators, to add humidity, I add a dampened sponge or cloth (make sure you wash very well first to remove any residual chemicals!). You drip more water on the sponge if you want more humidity.

For your situation I'd suggest you do that (put your sponge near your eggs) then try putting an overturned clear plastic container over the eggs and sponge to contain the humidity.

In a perfect world you would want something that can measure the humidity, but for this situation I'd suggest the correct humidity is when you just start to see fogging starting on the corners or edges of the container. Then it's about the right range.

Here's a picture of my hatcher - showing the humidity on the corners of the cover. The electronic humidity gauge on this machine is wrong - so I use a mixture of a separate hygrometer and past experience knowing how much moisture is enough

 

[kaleighmarie1213]

In my smaller cheaper incubators, to add humidity, I add a dampened sponge or cloth (make sure you wash very well first to remove any residual chemicals!). You drip more water on the sponge if you want more humidity.

For your situation I'd suggest you do that then try putting an overturned clear plastic container over the eggs and sponge to contain the humidity.

In a perfect world you would want something that can measure the humidity, but for this situation I'd suggest the correct humidity is when you just start to see fogging starting on the corners or edges of the container. Then it's about the right range.

Here's a picture of my hatcher - showing the humidity on the corners of the cover. The electronic humidity gauge on this machine is wrong - so I use a mixture of a separate hygrometer and past experience knowing how much moisture is enough

View attachment 2869180View attachment 2869181

Thank you so much for the advice! I am looking into incubators now since it's getting cold here (Northern Idaho, USA) and I don't want eggies left out to freeze etc.