First time candling generates more questions than it answers - need advice

[The Kibble Goddess]

Tonight was my first time candling eggs. We're on day 8. I have Buff Orpingtons / brown eggs. I had put 12 eggs under a broody hen. Tonight there were only 11. Where did that other one go? I even lifted mama from the nest and patted it down and felt around the nest in case it had rolled out. If she broke or ate it, wouldn't there be bits of shell left?

Several of the eggs were messy, but it didn't look like a broken egg and it didn't look like poop either. Should I wipe them off?

Four of the eggs were clear - those are bad eggs, correct? And i need to get them out of the nest box? The four dark ones are developing and i need to leave them alone? A couple were porous looking - should i get those out of the nest? I never did see the veins like pictures of 8 day eggs show.

To me the broody box smells bad, but so does the rest of the coop (Haven't cleaned out the deep litter yet.) And though mama doesn't eat but every 3 days, she has the broody poops from H***. I try to scoop them out right after she goes, but i think she hid some from me. Should i dump and redo the straw in her nest box?

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm trying to establish a sustainable flock, and very much want my girls to hatch out their own chicks.

 

[Bailey1204]

Whatever you do, do NOT remove any bedding from nest, this may discourage her from laying on the eggs. As for the candling, you are quite right, the clear ones are infertile. The other dark ones are good. As for the missing egg the mom may have rolled it out of nest when she sensed it was dead, or another possibility is that a predator came in and stole an egg, I would check to make sure nothing can get in. If they eggs are a bit messy it's usually okay, of they're extremely messy with mud cake on them you need to clean them off. Build-up like that can block the egg's pores and cause it to die. It also sounds like you disturb mom quite a lot. If that is the case, back off a little. Mom doesn't like to be disturbed and to much interference can cause her to abandon the nest. Good Luck!

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

Re-candled the eggs tonight. The clear one was unchanged as was one of the porous ones. I threw them out in the field. The other porous one looked as if it had some development so I left it alone. Just as i went to put the eggs back Mama fouled her nest rather badly (very liquid). I could not put the eggs back on top of that so i removed the bedding and remade the nest with fresh straw. Popped her back in and she took right to it. I put the eggs next to her and she tucked them right under herself.

I normally feed fermented gamebird feed, but aftter what i saw tonight I don't think her system is handling it too well. I think I'm going to switch to straight, dry starter crumbles and see if that doesn't tighten her stomach up a bit.

 

[Bailey1204]

You know more than you think, you are doing everything right! Keep it up!

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

Well thank you! Especially as we are on about day 24 and there is NO peeping from the eggs or any other hatching activity. I may have marked the calendar incorrectly (ADD/dyslexia) so i'm not going to do anything yet, but this clutch may have perished.

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

So glad i left the eggs in there. Started hatching on day 27. I have four or five live chick, one that passed, and 2 eggs that haven't hatched yet. I think those are gonners & will get them out of there tomorrow. Mom is being a good mother and it's so cute to see the chicks scramble in and out from under her. Next time this girl goes broody, I will be removing her from the next everyday - one corner of it was solid poop, and that couldn't have been good for the babies. But 'all's well that ends well."