Day 21 and nothing yet!!!

[skeeter9]

Oh my gosh!!! My Buff Orp has been setting on 18 eggs for 21 days and so far all we have is one broken egg (yucky stinky - down the drain!) and one with a little crack in it that could be a pip, but it's in the side and I don't hear anything coming from the egg.

I'm going crazy here!!! I lift my hen up about every hour or so to check on the eggs. Should I be doing anything else?

What if none of these eggs are fertile???? Aggghhhh!!! I can't take the suspense!!!

 

[marie_martin]

I would think that lifting her very much would keep the eggs from being at the right temp. so maybe you should just let it be for a while?? I know it is hard. I can't imagine since I have not had a hen setting eggs, but I do have goats who test my nerves tremendously when it is time to deliver. Keep me anxious until the very end. So I have had to learn a little patience. I sure hope they are fertile and that you have some chicks soon. Keep us updated.

Marie

 

[fowlweatherfriends]

Hi, You may want to rethink picking up momma hen. When you pick her up and put her back down she has to reposition herself. She will accidently step on the eggs in order to reposition. If you let her set still she will be able to position her legs and feet just right in between the eggs without accidently cracking them before they are ready to hatch. I lost one of mine due to rearanging the hen to peek underneath.

Best Wishes!
PS: I had a 99% fertility rate and 98% hatch rate of 20 eggs (the one died when momma hen stepped on the shell when it wasn't time for chick to hatch-it died fully formed).

 

[skeeter9]

Thanks for the advice. I didn't think about momma having to reposition and probably cracking an egg, nor did I think about messing up the temp under there.

I will try to refrain myself from bothering her again, but this is so verrrrrry harrrrd!!!!

I really wanted to let Twinkie raise a clutch of chickies, but maybe next time I'll use an incubator so I can peek at them through the window!!!!

Oh, another question - If none of the eggs hatch, do you know if a hen will raise purchased chicks if I place them under her and remove the dead eggs (assuming they don't hatch in the next several days!)?

 

[Kyoko]

That might work.

My clutch of eggs died and I replaced them with some baby Nankin Ducks and a few chicks. The mother took it easily.

 

[fowlweatherfriends]

I have had a hatch using a hen AND using a bator. I myself prefer to use the hen lol! The turning, and worry about the temp, possible power outages, humidity, and trouble with babies not getting hatched out of the shells is just too much for me!

My momma hen hatched all of them with the perfect temp, humidity, turning etc. We actually left her alone after checking to see the first few underneath her. That way, we woke to a big surprise of happy, dried off chicks peeking out from momma. We narrowed down the one chick death to us having picked her up because the shell was split in half LONGWAYS, and not all the way around as if it had pipped and died. When we put momma back on we noticed she was scrambling to get back into position and we noticed her feet were stepping on the eggs.

Hold tight-you will surely have some chicks as mommas usually do a great job

 

[marie_martin]

I have not hatched any under a broody, but this incubator thing is awful. Worrying about temps and humidity and so forth. I would much rather have a broody hen but I could not get my one hen to go broody and I wanted some babies. So I had to try. I will hopefully get some silkie hens and they are known for broodiness?? So maybe I can get one to set eggs on occassion. My BB Red OEGB hen has 6 eggs in her nest and still wont sit on them. I guess she is just not ready? But I can't add them to the bator until mine hatch this week. So I am leaving them in the nest to see if she will try to set them. We will see. At least the temps have been cool and I don't have to worry about the eggs getting too warm out there. I hope all your eggs hatch for you.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

Marie

 

[Juliechickens]

Skeeter, I would wait a couple more days,,,if nothing hatches,,,I would at least buy a few chicks and sit under her while removing the other dead eggs. After you get the eggs out,,,I would candle them just to see if they ever were fertile,,,just for your records so you will know!
I feel sure that if she has sat on those eggs for 21 days and all of a sudden chicks appear,,she will think they are hers and raise them fine.
I would also quit lifting her for the next few days and see what happens. In case one pips,,,that air needs to stay warm and moist in order to hatch so try to refraim! Easier said than done I know!
Good luck to you both!!
Julie

 

[skeeter9]

Holy Cow!!! Not one single chick yet!!! Luckily I'm back at work today, or I would probably be bugging Twinkie to death.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be at least one little peep by the time I get home tonight!!!

 

[Blisschick]

Have you thought about candling the eggs? I'll occasionally take them out from under my broodies just to check and see if everything is progressing along like it should. I check at least once a week. This last time with my frizzle and silkie co-broodies, I didn't check until a few days before they were due to hatch. All but one were good, so I took the rotten egg out (and promptly dropped it right inside the front door :-x). All the others were due to hatch Friday, but it wasn't until Saturday morning that I found the babies all snuggled under their mommies.

Stacey