Hatching eggs when you don't know how far along they are.

[parkersmom120106]

Hey all!

I haven't been around in a while, but I have a question and I know I can find an answer/advice here. My brother is clearing a part of the yard that's really brushy, so we can build a dog pen there. Apparently one of our little OEGB hens decided to build a nest in the brush. He'd been working for about an hour...well Mama chicken didn't move. He couldn't see her through the brush...and well..she's no longer with us. No idea why she didn't run when she heard the lawnmower. Most of the eggs made it through..only one broke..there are 10 more. Eight of them are little white eggs that are hers, and 2 are a little bit larger white eggs that I believe belong to my standard old english game hen. Anyway..at first my brother though the one that broke was just yolk and white, so we were going to chuck the eggs. Then he brought in the other eggs and said that there was some blood with the other, so they may be further along than we thought. I'm heating up the incubator now. The one and only time I tried to hatch I was unsuccessful, so I don't know why I'm even trying. My question is, how can I incubate these eggs without knowing how long she'd been sitting on them. Can I tell how far they are by candling? Anyone ever try to incubate eggs that they weren't sure how long they'd been developing? Thanks in advance for any help/advice anyone can offer.

 

[MuckyPuppy]

Quote:
I really love this post on candling. You may have already seen it but even though I am really bad at candling it has helped me immensely in guestimating if my eggs are growing well and at what stage they are at in the process.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261876

 

[parkersmom120106]

Thanks for the link. I have seen it, but it was very helpful. We're going to make something to see better, but from what I could see just putting the eggs in my hand..they look between 8 and 11 days. We could see them moving in there. I'm still fighting with this stupid incubator to get the temp right, so I put them on the porch (it's about 100 degrees outside right now) because they seemed to be getting cold. I really hope we can get them to hatch. My brother feels horrible about what happened to their mom, but he just didn't see her. I still can't believe she didn't up and run when she heard the mower. Sigh..he felt even worse when we saw the babies moving inside the eggs.

 

[pete55]

Hi. If you clink on the link below my Avatar for my Website you'll find lots of information and links which will help you. Pete

 

[MuckyPuppy]

Quote:
It must have horrible for him but he shouldn't blame himself, it's hard to see any small animal crouched down in tall grass. I hope that you can get your incubator functioning correctly so that you can hatch out her eggs. I'm crossing my fingers for a great hatch.

 

[parkersmom120106]

Thanks. I had it at 99 and then put the eggs in and it got all wonky again. Finally have it at 100 and 50% humidity. Hopefully it stays put. I also hope that the father of these eggs is my OEGB rooster and not the RIR who claims all the girls lol...those will be some funky looking babies!