Different stages in the same nest?

[AngieB71]

So we purchased some fertile eggs from a local farm and put them under our broody girl this past Tuesday. Last night, we attempted to candle...a few are questionable, but one has clear vascularization and we could see a small body with movement....looked more like at least day 7, if not later. So I have 2 questions:

1. I'm assuming that the egg for the one with the obvious viable chick was probably collected right before we got to the farm, and maybe mom had been sitting on it a bit, so when we did the 15 minute drive home and popped it under our hen, it just kept chugging along? I hadn't even thought something like that would be feasible. He had all of the eggs in cartons on the shelf. Or if they start incubating it, then it's removed, can it sit in stasis for a bit?

2. How problematic is it if one egg hatches a few days before any of the others (provided any of the others are viable?), and if it IS problematic, what's the best way to proceed? We do not have an incubator...

 

[GodLovesU]

If your incubator has uneven temperature that could be the problem.Eggs grow faster at warmer temperatures.If it’s only a day or two’s worth of development that’s the best thing I can come up with.I don’t think it should be a huge issue if it does hatch before the others,it will just be lonely for a few days.

 

[Ridgerunner]

put them under our broody girl this past Tuesday. Last night, we attempted to candle.....looked more like at least day 7, if not later.

So five days of development for the other eggs compared to whatever you saw. Some eggs can be easier to see into than others (usually because of egg shell color/shade) I'd try to not read too much into that.

can it sit in stasis for a bit?

Very early on it can. From the time the egg is fertilized until it is laid is about 24 hours, give or take a bit. While the egg is inside the hen's body it is at her body temperature, which is slightly above incubation temperature, so it is developing. When the egg is laid the embryo is still alive but it cools off enough that it stops developing until it is at incubation temperature again. It has to remain alive all that time without high temperatures if it is ever going to hatch. When a hen hides a nest and then goes broody some of her eggs may be over two weeks old. The embryo stayed alive all that time. Those eggs, the first she laid and the last, will probably hatch about the same time.

2. How problematic is it if one egg hatches a few days before any of the others (provided any of the others are viable?), and if it IS problematic, what's the best way to proceed?

Your broody hen is a living animal. You can never be sure what a living animal will do.

Before the chick hatches it absorbs the yolk. It can live off of that yolk for over 72 hours. That way it can wait on the late chicks to hatch of you have late chicks. But at some point it will get hungry or thirsty and tell the broody hen so she can take it off the nest to find food and water. I had a broody hen hatch a chick late on a Monday. Others hatched later. She did not bring her chicks off of the nest until Friday morning. They were all fine.

When a chick internal pips, it starts talking to Mama. The hen knows she has unhatched chicks because she can hear them. Some broody hens take their chicks off of the nest within less than a day of them hatching, especially if she does not hear any still in their shells. Others wait longer. But if she has to choose between letting chicks that have already hatched starve or die of thirst and unhatched chicks, most will choose the chicks that have hatched.

So what can you do if she leaves early with unhatched chicks left behind? You do not have an incubator so you are limited. At that point there is not much you can do.

If you know you have a staggered hatch you can remove the first chicks as they hatch and dry off and hope she stays on the nest until the later chicks hatch. You can try giving her those early chicks back after the others hatch, sometimes she will take them. Sometimes that works, sometimes she will come off of the nest and look for her already hatched chicks.

I don't know that you have a staggered hatch. I'm not there looking at them. My inclination is that you probably don't but anything can happen. I've been wrong before.

Good luck!

 

[ChickyWhicky]

I literally just dealt with this situation for staggered hatching. Mama hatched some chicks then got off clutch leaving behind unhatched eggs. I dont have an incubator. I put the eggs under a heat lamp at 100 degrees and kept area moist (misted area with water every couple of hours). The eggs hatched fine in a few days (latest hatcher was 6 or 7 days after being put under heat lamp). Once the chicks were steady on their feet (about a day) I went out at night and stuck them under mama hen in the dark. She cant know the difference. All is well, the younger chicks have integrated with the older chicks. Maybe not ideal, obviously incubator is great, but it worked in a pinch. Good luck!

 

[GodLovesU]

Oh I forgot they were under a hen,my bad!