Emergency incubating

[Brie6895]

My broody hen is dying and now my last hope is to at least save her eggs. I have incubated before in the little giant incubator once with a 10 percent success and the other when I was trying to save 5 eggs after the mother had given up. The last time was terrible because the bator got to hot and they basically cooked which makes me cringe at the thought of doing this again. I had no idea last time when they were due to hatch. This time around I'm guessing they are around 2 maybe 2 1/2 weeks but it is just a guess. She added them day by day and now there are 9 of them. My problem is I have no idea what day each was laid and I'm not 100 percent confident with my incubator. Should I try and set them in there how would I go about turning the humidity up if I have no idea when the 18th day would be. I'm very upset as the mother was the first chicken I ever had and now she is slowly dying. If any one has any advice I would be more than greatful

 

[GitaBooks]

I'm so sorry to hear about your hen.

Stabilize the incubator and get the eggs into it. As long as they are kept warm and humid they should stay alive (even if they go dormant for a few hours) until you can get things sorted out. Keep the humidity average for now, cooler temperatures are probably better for a few hours than warmer. You could try borrowing or buying another incubator, as this will let you rest easy. There are also ways to make home-made incubators.

What is wrong with the silkie?

I hope they all hatch well. Best of luck!

 

[kuchchicks]

To try to get an educated guess as to how far along they are try to candle them and look at the air cells. Since they were under mom I'm sure her humidity was right on. That could give you a general idea. Then if you have to "guess" when to stop turning I would error on the early side. I have stopped turning a little early before because I was not going to be home on the day that it needed done. An extra day or two at the end is not going to make a difference.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[AmyLynn2374]

My broody hen is dying and now my last hope is to at least save her eggs. I have incubated before in the little giant incubator once with a 10 percent success and the other when I was trying to save 5 eggs after the mother had given up. The last time was terrible because the bator got to hot and they basically cooked which makes me cringe at the thought of doing this again. I had no idea last time when they were due to hatch. This time around I'm guessing they are around 2 maybe 2 1/2 weeks but it is just a guess. She added them day by day and now there are 9 of them. My problem is I have no idea what day each was laid and I'm not 100 percent confident with my incubator. Should I try and set them in there how would I go about turning the humidity up if I have no idea when the 18th day would be. I'm very upset as the mother was the first chicken I ever had and now she is slowly dying. If any one has any advice I would be more than greatful

I use a LG myself and they can be testy. First get it on and stabalize the temps with it empty. If the bator holds at least 25% humidity w/o water in it, run it dry for now. Once you put the eggs in give it a few hours before adjusting. If you have to adjust it up do so very little. (If you have the 9200 model wiggle the knob toward increase just enough to click the light on.) Let it stabilize for a while and if it needs adjusting up do so in very little increments. Those knobs are very sensative. If it doesn't hold at least 25% humidity wet a sponge and stick in there-on the floor/mesh is fine.

If you are sure they are at least 2 weeks don't worry about turning. Even though most people stop turning at day 18, it's not neccessary to turn eggs after 14 days. (I actually turn mine for the last time now at the end of day 13.)

As for humidity, if you are able to monitor fairly regularly, you can up the humidity as soon as you hear peeping from inside the egg, see an internal pip while candling or at the first sign of an external pip. As long as you have the humidity raised before they start actively hatching, you should be fine. (If you see a lot of rocking from the eggs, you could up it then as well.)

Candle and see if you can at least judge the develope on them, this is a great candling page:https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

Good luck and keep us updated.