Good broody duck/chicken thread?

[yoopergirl1211]

Can anyone point me to a good thread on broodies? Ive got like 9 right now, all have some eggs, ducks and chickens in a bunch of different stages and places and I'm really feeling out of my depth. I thought I had a Muscovy hatching Tue but still nothing even though it's like day 39 but the eggs look right I think. I have another one with an air sack on the side of egg and also one Muscovy that has eggs spread out around her instead of under her that I'm not sure what to do with. I had one chicken hatch one egg out of 9 but it was killed by my other chickens. I know that one was my fault and I've reinforced the area for my broody chickens but still need to figure out ducks. I have two KC ducks co brooding and I'm not sure what will happen when they start hatching. If any of them succeed its going to be soon and I really need more info lol. Ive been candling eggs but not sure what I'm looking for really. Like are the eggs with air sacs that move dead? And one egg looks really dark but I don't want to toss it if it's not dead. I'm freaking out! I'll search on my own but if there are any threads that are really helpful I'd love to know about them. Thanks in advance!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Moving air cells, or any of the contents moving when the egg is rotated is bad eggs. Dark eggs can mean they are developing, or it could mean they died. On day 39 I would suspect your eggs are all dead. You could be brave and open one. I definitely smell them. A bad muscovy egg will smell rotten, handle them with care.

A muscovy pushing her eggs out like yours is usually means they are dead. I have been having broodies hatch some eggs in the last few weeks and I have seen the same eggs pushed out. When candled they are no good.

Getting your broodies set up properly can help hatch results. Other birds can mess with eggs on the nest when broodies get off, and can even break them. Too many eggs will cause many to die, so limiting how many they sit on can be a good idea. Make sure to mark the original eggs and remove those added daily.

I personally only candle 2-3 times. Too much moving and handling of eggs isn't good in my personal opinion.

What I have noticed with my muscovy is they seem to know if eggs are good or not and will defend good egg quite viciously, and bad eggs not as much.

Hatching under hens seems easy, but often there are all kinds of issues than need managing, as well as time for you to figure it all out, and what works for you.

I believe there's a natural hatching thread, though I haven't read it. Maybe this thread will become one.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Ugh. I had high hopes for the one one that was do. All of her eggs look right and don't smell. I don't know if maybe I started counting to early? She's in the middle of a 20+ ft culvert and I can't get in there so I just let her be till now. I started the count when I realized she was only coming out once a day. I had my daughter crawl in Tues to check on progress and thats when we candled. But she has 17 eggs in there and I'm not really sure how she got that many so quickly before I started counting. I never seen her heading in it before Easter but I know they are sneaky. I guess I'll just leave her for now and hope my count is off.
I have some eggs coming for the one that pushed them all out so we'll see.

This is the dark egg I'm worried about

Its a kc and I'm guessing its bad?

Thank you. Right now I'm just hoping I get a few babies out of all these broodies.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That dark splotchy ones are usually no good. Since your duck is in the culvert you don't need to worry as much about getting hit with exploding stinky eggs. I would just let her sit. Either some will hatch or she will eventually abandon them. You have called brave daughter to have crawled into it.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

She really wants babies lol. And I did have to take her out for ice cream lol. Do you know much about co brooders? Someone mentioned they may fight over babies? And any of them with cracks I should toss too right?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Toss any cracked eggs. Muscovy are different. Mine actually leave their duckling in the shed while they go out to forage after the first week or so. I don't think co parenting would be a problem with them, but every hen is different. I haven't seen the aggressive behaviors like you do in chickens and turkeys towards other hens young.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

Great news! Had my daughter crawl back in and we have at least 5 hatching!!!!!! Did find a few quitters and left the rest alone. Then we went and checked on a broody Bantam and saw a little head sticking out!!!!!!!!! They are early!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Yay, you must of had a gut feeling. I hope you get lots of poultry kids.

 

[yoopergirl1211]

I know it'll be a while for ducklings yet but at least I know they are still okay. The chicks were a complete surprise!

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Your hen is beautiful. She must be so proud of herself.