Day 21!!! aaaand....nothing???

[Amy's Animals]

Wait until day 28, then if there is nothing, I would throw them out.
Was the humidity low the entire incubation period or just recently? If it has been low all incubation period, the chick is probably dead. If just in recent days, and not too bad, the chick may be alive, they need the humidity to hatch. If you don't have an incubator, then how are you brooding the eggs?

 

[Bear88]

mum sat on the untill day 21 .... then got up and didn't go back

so they are inside with a light and we spray water to try get the humidity up.

it is now day 23 so day two inside with out mum .......

 

[Amy's Animals]

Hmm, that doesn't look good at all. I'm sorry, but I don't think they'll hatch. What kind of chicken is mum?

 

[Bear88]

mum is a silkie

& the eggs are silkie or pekin


is there anything we can do better at all

sooo SAD

i feel like i'v killed them because i did see them moving last monday

 

[Amy's Animals]

Mine's a silkie too and she was still setting today, but I'm trying to break her broodiness. Is there anything that could have been bothering your chicken, such as mites/lice or heat??? Don't feel guilty, things like just happen. There is always another chance. I don't think your chick has much of a chance like this without a brooder or anything and maybe has a chance of living if you crack open the egg. I'm not expierenced with this or anything so I can't tell you if it will live or not. It's your own decision, it may not even be alive anymore. Candle it to see.

 

[Bear88]

she doesnt have lice or mites or worms that i know of. she has become very skinny because she did not want to leave her eggs or eat. so we are going to look after her get her better now i think. she is more important!!!

 

[Amy's Animals]

Quote:
That's not good, she probably got off the nest because she was literally starving, broody hens can die from that. Did you offer food and water within reach of her nest??? Yes, the hen is indeed more important, and she'll become broody again.

 

[Bear88]

she had food and water beside her. we gave her apples and all her favs but she wouldn't eat. when we put her on the grass every day she ate grass drank alot and went back to them.

i read all about hens killing themselves to hatch eggs so we have been watching her. just on the weekend did we think yup she is too skinny. up till the weekend she was eating but then stopped.

so at the moment she is eating all her favs

what is good to put weight on them???

it is so hard , i know she wants babies because she goes up & looks for the eggs but comes back down

 

[Amy's Animals]

Time will put weight back on her, you don't want to suddenly overfeed because that isn't healthy either. You probably should have left her alone while she was brooding, you don't need to take her out on the grass or try to feed her. She'll do that herself when she feels the need to. If you guys checked on her a lot and moved her around a lot you could have stressed her out and broken her broodiness. On day 21, how long did you wait to remove the eggs? Did you do it right away like 1/2 an hour after she got off? Or did you wait until the end of the day???

 

[Bear88]

if she had not come down by 4pm in the arvo to drink and eat we would bring her down we did not want her going 24h with no food.

she never seemed stressed. we don't think we did anything different on the last day. we have decided to not let her go broody again as she stops eating and that is scarey.

she is eating normal amounts but not as active as before so i hope she will get strong slowly and back to herself. she is happy to watch the other chicken and us. i think she got bored as well.

thank you all for all your help but tonight we opened the eggs and the two babies were dead. it looks like they would have died on about day 20 or 21 because they were so big. one day in the cold with out mum and then us putting them under to much heat killed them i think

we are very sad and depressed at the moment

so very sad