Dumb mistake- 2 different embryo ages

[The Golden Egg5]

Sooo... I made a major dumb rookie mistake. I have a broody hen that I was planning on breaking. I just hadn’t gotten around to it. She is broody in the box with barely any shavings left- all kicked out. Most of the other chickens don’t lay in those boxes, so I figured it would be ok to not even check under her for a couple of days... I know, super dumb. Now, I have 2 eggs developing. One is a day or two older than the other one. I am planning on firing up the incubator and hatching them there and then giving the chicks back to her. Does that plan sound ok? I don’t want one to die because it’s a couple days younger. And if she rejects the chicks (which I doubt) I can give them to one of my other broodies ( I have 4 at the time )
The chicks that will be hatching could be any mixes of these- silkie or porcelain D’uccle rooster, and cochin, porcelain D’uccle, silkie cochin mix, polish cochin mix. So these little bantam babies could be very odd looking. I’m hoping for a pure porcelain D’uccle.

 

[cmom]

I had a broody that was sitting on 6 eggs and I let her sit and I had the same situation. Every time she would get off of the nest another one of the females would go and lay an egg in it. I took them out and put them in my incubator, there were 18 eggs. My stupidity was that I didn't mark the original 6 like I usually do if I let a broody sit.

 

[MillersFarm]

If the egg is only a day or 2 ahead of the other one I say just let her incubate both, I've had broodies hatch out staggered eggs successfully before, I even had a broody take in 2 day old abandoned chicks while she was still sitting on a clutch of eggs that weren't due for another 5 days. she managed to hatch out all of the eggs without a problem

 

[cmom]

Because I had so many eggs I put them in a brooder when they hatched but with 2 eggs you can try to give them back to the broody after they hatch and see if she will accept them.

 

[FishMtFarm]

Let her hatch them. If it’s only 2 to 3 days younger, it will be ok as she will stay sitting on the next for several days after the first hatched. Plus if she does get off, you still have the incubator to hatch it in. If you give them back, the older one by then will be imprinted on you and not her which is a harder problem to deal with.

 

[The Golden Egg5]

That’s true. Thanks! I’ll update as things happen! I’m not sure how old they are though, this was last night on the younger one. Any guesses?

 

[cmom]

I hope this link works but it is a good post about the progression of an embryo developing.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ng-pics-progression-though-incubation.261876/

 

[The Golden Egg5]

Based on that, I think they are on day 6 and 8. I hope I’m close! But if I’m letting her hatch, it’s not a huge deal.

 

[microchick]

I think we have all faced a staggered hatch. Happened to me during my first broody session with a Buff Orpington hen. Best advice I can give came to me from a seasoned veteran here on BYC.

1) Confine your broody to a location where the other hens have no access to the broody nest. And also mark your eggs with a magic marker and remove any that bear no marks on them.

2) get an incubator and have it on standby to take over the unhatched eggs.

Personally, I've had hens get off unhatched eggs 24 hours after the first eggs have hatched. I've also tried sitting a shallow container of feed and a small shallow bowl of water filled with marbles close to the hen so she will be more inclined to sit on the nest and allow the slower eggs to hatch.

Good luck with your hatching. It's always exciting!

 

[The Golden Egg5]

I just had an idea. Tell me what you guys think. So, I have 2 broody bantams, so what if I put one egg under one and the other under the other chicken? Sound like a plan?