Dilemma - What should I do?

[krista74]

Hi all,

Long story made short....

I have a Broody Hen who started out sitting on 11 eggs. At Day 14, two of those eggs exploded under her, sending her (and me) into a panic. The whole coop smelled like sulphor!

I removed all the wet hay and replaced it with fresh, then hubby and I candled the remaining 9 eggs, and gently wiped the viable ones clean with a warm damp cloth. Broody went back to the nest and has remained there since, sitting on 6 good eggs and one we were not quite sure about (the 'questionable egg.')

Fast forward to today, Day 18. I just went in and said hello to Broody and gave her a quick pat. When I got very close to her nest I could smell sulphur (although the coop in general smelled ok), and I am not sure if it is from the previous egg explosion, or if questionable egg number 7 is now going off in a big way.

My dilemma:

Being that it is now Day 18, do I risk the questionable egg exploding, and just leave her be to sort it out, hoping that some good chicks do indeed hatch in 3 day's time, and removing the unhatched eggs a day later?

OR

Do I disturb her on the nest today, pull out all the eggs, re-candle them and hope I find the 'bad one/s', if indeed there is a bad one?

Your advice would be appreciated.

- Krista

 

[krista74]

Well, I've decided to intervene and candle the eggs.

All of them look the same. None in particular smells any worse than the other. They all smell vaguely 'yucky' but I suspect that may be lingering from the egg explosion we had going into Day 14.

They all have what looks to be an air pocket at one end (it takes up maybe 1/8th of the total egg space?) and the rest is a solid black colour.

There are no sloshy insides that I can see. None are see-through like some of the discarded eggs at the start were.

So, I'm hoping what I'm seeing is still 7 viable eggs.

Does this sound like what I should be seeing going into our 18th day?

No chirping to be heard as yet. I guess the rest is up to Broody now.....Wish us luck!

- Krista

 

[wyoleadslinger]

Sounds like they will hatch, I would let it ride and hay is cheap

 

[krista74]

Yes, it is. I replaced all the dirty hay with fresh hay immediately after the eggs exploded, but I suspect the egg smell is lingering on the hen herself, rather than from the bedding.

Fingers crossed in 3 days time we have a successful hatch!

- Krista