Disaster with broody and incubator

[Stepfordhomestead]

Hey all, this is my first post!

I am desperate. Please, please, help me.

We got chickens about 18 mos ago, on a whim, bc we are silly. But we really liked it and are trying to learn and do well.

We originally had 12. 11 hens, 1 rooster. Last fall we lost our rooster and 4 hens to a predator. We got 4 spring peeps in March. All was well. Yay.

I unexpectedly got a broody hen! I was so excited! We quickly found a rooster to adopt and she got a very nice clutch together- a full dozen.

Now the BAD PART...

We were on days 7-9 with the clutch when I went out one morning to feed her and found the most devastating scene. Something had torn into the coop, killed my broody, all my spring peeps, and massacred all but two of the eggs.

My husband ran to get an incubator, I kept the eggs under a heat lamp until we got it all set up. They’ve been in there ever since- it’s been almost 3 days. I have one egg dated 6/10 and one dated 6/12.

6/10 when candled shows a wiggly baby, lots of veins, and an air sack.

6/12 shows nothing but a light spot and dark spot.

I think probably 6/12 didn’t make it?

6/10 has a wonky shaped air cell. It’s very long and creeping down the side- which I’m reading is bad!

I can not describe how badly I want to save these eggs. Please. Please. Tell me how to at least save 6/10.

 

[Stepfordhomestead]

 

[Stepfordhomestead]

And I do realize I have no correct equipment. I’m using a crappy flashlight and I wrote on my egg with marker bc I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to do that.

Sorry I’m kind of blundering through all this, and now my poor chickens and eggs are suffering ‍

 

[therese13]

And I do realize I have no correct equipment. I’m using a crappy flashlight and I wrote on my egg with marker bc I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to do that.

Sorry I’m kind of blundering through all this, and now my poor chickens and eggs are suffering ‍

 

[therese13]

Eggs are difficult to hatch, even under the right conditions. They must have the proper humidity, must be turned daily, etc. I understand this is heartbreaking for you, but I would suggest making your coop predator proof, then getting more chickens. Good luck to you.

 

[cheekychick3]

Hi and you have joined the right place, for help and knowledge.
Do not beat yourself up, these things happen, when you do not expect them too.
We have all been through it, thinking our birds are safe. Until it happens, to us.
5yrs ago a fox wiped out 16 of ours that i to bred. One night i did did not lock their coop
door. Grrrr ( Still feel gulty. ) Did not even know there were foxes around here. We
had them for 7yrs but every night in that time, i did lock them up. So yeh, we have all learn"t the hard way. As for your eggs the first pic, looks fine considering how you, had to manage with what you had. But the 2nd not sure, have you held them by your ear.
Just long enough to hear movement ect. I think (fingers crossed) the first one will be
fine. But ask the experts, on here. It is many years ago i use to breed ours, when we
had our farm. If the Mother had lost interest then in the incubator they went. lol
It will not hurt placing the 2nd egg by your ear, before you discard it. It is obvious you
feel upset, only natural, but up to now, you are doing okay. Especially coming on here
to ask for help and advice. loads will help you soon. Good luck. Hope all goes well for you.

 

[starri33]

As one of the others suggested, do your best to make your coop predator proof.. as for the eggs, never give up, my brain isn't working to well at the moment so do you know what day you are on? I have a incubator that I can never get the humidity to stay right and my hatches average 90%. Just wait till say day 23 to make the decision on whether or not to cancel the one you say has the wonky air sac.

 

[Stepfordhomestead]

We spent the whole next day after the incident reinforcing our coop. It’s ALL my fault unfortunately. I had been hounding my husband for a bigger garden so we moved the coop and put the garden where the coop had been. The chickens have been free ranging for months with no issues so I figured we had plenty of time to plan out a nice big fenced area around the new location. I was wrong. They now have a full enclosure with triple layer wire and padlocks on the doors. I’m done cleaning up chicken bodies!

As for eggs, I feel horrible bc this is my first time ever doing it, I never planned to and then suddenly we had a broody hen and I decided to roll with it and now I feel like I’ve brought all of this on myself.

We are on day 13 for the wonky air sack egg and day 11 for the one that shows no development.

My temp is set to 102° but hovers between 99° and 102°. My humidity is around 55% give or take a few. They are laying on their sides and I roll them over a few times a day.

With the wonky air sack- I read some people put them in egg cartons with the air sack at the top to aid hatching? Is that helpful?

I am so lost

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

Are both of the photos of the same egg? They both look very good. Can you take photos of all three eggs and post here.
It sounds like you are doing OK with the incubating. I would try to lower the humidity a bit as 55% is likely too high. Around 40-45 would be better.

People do put eggs with wonky air cells upright in the incubator but I believe it is more helpful in the first week of development. I do not think it would make much difference now since your eggs are hallway through, and it is much better for the eggs to be sideways when they hatch anyway.

Is your incubator a still air type? And how confident are you that the temperature is accurate?

 

[starri33]

@Stepfordhomestead , a lot of folks do that when they get in shipped eggs, at day 13 I am not sure how it would help, but since you believe it not to be viable, I don't see what it could hurt doing that for 24 hours and see if it levels out. If it does, put it back like you had it and wait. Do not blame yourself, stuff happens, just do your best to make sure it doesn't happen again. Short of keeping them in the house nothing is predator proof. When building their new run, make sure you put skirting in to stop the diggers, use hardware cloth for the sides. etc.. We have coyotes, hawks, and Lord knows what else here in the desert, I make sure I've got the skirting and hardware cloth.