Day 21, 1 egg left - I'm afraid broody will kill it - can I hatch it?

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

My broody hen had previously broken 4 eggs in 1 1/2 weeks time (all fertile and all having a developmentally correct chick in it). She never eats the egg or chick - just accidently breaks or cracks them. I followed all advice - added peat moss & straw to my pine shavings, dusted her and the nest with DE (even though there are no signs of mites), and put her broody box into a chainlink dogrun so she could get out and stretch more. After all this, she broke one more egg at about 15 days and it had a good size chick in it.

She hasn't broken any for about 4 days now, but she has been off the nest quite a bit these last few days. I was advised to lock her back into her cage so that she will stay on the nest and keep the humidity level up for the chick.

I pushed her cage back up to the dog kennel last night - she has room to get up and eat, drink, and stretch, but no longer had access to her private run.

I checked the remaining two egg this morning (without moving them) when she was off the nest -even gave her a few minutes out of the cage. The eggs were fine - no sign of chirping or hatching that I could see. I left the house for a few hours, came home and went right back out to check on them. She was off the nest and there was a broken egg with a soft fluffy chick laying there - it looks fully formed and ready to go, but it was still attached to a yolk sac. I am so frustrated with this entire experience - so many dead babies that shouldn't be.

There is one remaining egg left - without turning it over, I placed it in my hand to try to see if there was movement - there is! It is still alive - does not chirp back though. I'm afraid if I leave it with her, it will surely die - our humidity level here in AZ gets to 10-15% in the afternoons and she is not staying on the nest. I'm also afraid she may crack it. What do I do? I do not have an incubator - is there any way I can hatch it myself - can I place in an a warm pan, spritz it with water?,,,anything?

 

[adrian]

I'm not an expert on this site, but I personally wouldn't leave the egg with her... I feel bad for that other poor little chick.

Seems to me she has a bit of a problem with her eggs if you only have one left... I'd set up a brooder-like environment with a heat lamp, add a lot of sponges, and get the temperature up to about 98-100F. This will easily hatch a chick. Even temperatures of lower than 95 will, as they do keep some body temperature at that stage. Keep the humidity up to about 65% (someone correct me if I am wrong) and all should be well.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Thanks - that's kind of what I thought and I just finished putting together a makeshift 'hatcher'. I'm convinced that if I leave the chick with her, it'll die. At least this way there's a slight chance.

As I brought the egg inside, I chirped at it and it chirped back! She may be awkard, but she has managed to incubate all the chicks - I never found a broken egg in her nest that didn't have the correct size chick in it for the age it was - so sad.

I prepared a basket with a lightbulb and a few dishes of water in it. The basket is in a warm room that doesn't get much air flow. I've got a thermometer and am making sure the area with the egg in it is kept around 100 degrees. I plan on spritzing it several times today and have turned my cooler on (instead of the air conditioner) hoping for enough humidity. Do I need to have a covering the entire basket? Is is okay to have part of it uncovered so I can watch, spritz, etc? How much spritzing would be too much? I don't want to drown it.

If the chick does happen to make it, I'll be going to the feed store to get it a couple buddies.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Chick has now pipped and chirps back at me sometimes. How often should I spritz the egg shell - every hour? 1/2 hour? I don't have a way to measure humidity - only temperature.

 

[Bird Brain]

update? I just assisted my first egg. Use a damp warm papertowel to help keep it moist. If you feel the need to you can help it break the shell small peices at a time with tweezers good luck!

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Update: She hatched all by herself.

My husband had the great idea of using my portable humidifier to raise the humidity level. I put the egg in the bathroom - steamed the room up first with the shower. Put in the humidifier and left the door open a few inches. I kept the egg at 100 degrees under a 60 watt bulb, but have no idea what the level of humidity was.

About an 1 1/2 hours later, I heard her cheaping from the other room - she was zipping and finished her zip and hatch in about 20 minutes (she had pipped a few hours before that). I now have one healthy chick and need to go pick up a buddy for her at the feed store. She's probably a blue or splash orp - sold as b/b/s, but looks silver so far (still wet).

My second hatch with another broody is due in 2 weeks.

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Here she/he is - making its big debut (pointy thing is meat thermometer):

 

[Bird Brain]

how cute! Congrats!