First Guinea hatch - advice required please

[Michelle Spall]

HI all,
I put 15 GF eggs under 2 broody Sussex chooks

5 days before they were due to hatch I moved them into a nursery.
That night 1 of the chooks got off the eggs :-( When I found this I quickly put all her eggs under the other chook, I don't know how long she was off the eggs over night.
We then had a 3 day heat wave with temps over 40 deg.
I have had 6 hatch early (day 26), loosing 1 but the rest doing fine.
Chook is still sitting on the other 9 and I think this 9 maybe the ones from the other chook.
They were all not due to hatch untill tomorrow.
My question is how long do you think I should leave the 9 eggs under her?

 

[R2elk]

HI all,
I put 15 GF eggs under 2 broody Sussex chooksView attachment 1585759
5 days before they were due to hatch I moved them into a nursery.
That night 1 of the chooks got off the eggs :-( When I found this I quickly put all her eggs under the other chook, I don't know how long she was off the eggs over night.
We then had a 3 day heat wave with temps over 40 deg.
I have had 6 hatch early (day 26), loosing 1 but the rest doing fine.
Chook is still sitting on the other 9 and I think this 9 maybe the ones from the other chook.
They were all not due to hatch until tomorrow.
My question is how long do you think I should leave the 9 eggs under her?

It is very common for keets to hatch from day 26 through day 28. Towards the end of the hatch it is surprising how long a nest can be left without seriously affecting the hatch.

If the eggs weren't due to hatch until tomorrow, I would not get concerned until it has been at least a full 24 hours overdue. At that time, you can candle the eggs to try to determine whether or not they are still alive.

I assume that the heat wave you are referring to is 40°C (104°F) since I would not consider 40°F to be a heat wave.

Good luck.

 

[Michelle Spall]

Thank you for your advice - yes 40 C - we are in Australia, spring time- average temp is normally around the 30's for this time of year