Help, different egg embryo ages.

[CherriesBrood]

Thanks

 

[aart]

Sticky for sure, best and worst scenarios:
Maybe you'll get lucky and the first will hatch 'late' and the second will hatch 'early' and mama will take care of them both!
Only time will tell...but you may end up brooding both artificially.
Best of cLuck!

 

[lazy gardener]

I hate to be a nay sayer, but I can do no less in this situation. Your choices:

1. Let her hatch #1 and pull #2 and incubate it, return it to her after hatch and hope she accepts it. #2 will be young enough to imprint on Mama, but she may see it as an interloper and kill it.

#2. Remove #1 right before it is due to hatch, and incubate it, leaving her to hatch #2. Then attempt to foster #1 back to her. #1 will be beyond the imprintable age, and may not respond well to her, even if she does accept it and does not see it as an interloper which must be killed. Often, chicks that don't bond to broody will not follow her, and will not return to her to warm up. They may wander the broody area, and die of hypothermia.

#3. Which ever egg/chick ends up in incubator, buy it a couple buddies, and brood them separately.

#4. You may end up with only one chick hatching anyways.

I wish you the very best with your staggered hatch, and hope that you get very lucky and Mama accepts both chicks.

 

[WVduckchick]

I'd leave both with her and see if she even abandons the later one. She may stay nested long enough for it to hatch. If not, and if she takes the first chick away from the second egg for too long, I'd swap that egg with a "dummy" egg (warm one), incubate #2 to hatch, then switch out the dummy egg with chick #2. Even if she thinks the 2nd isn't going to hatch, they will still likely go back and lay on it periodically.

 

[CherriesBrood]

Thanks everyone for the help.
The first one is due to hatch in a day and a half, I don’t know which way I should go yet.
What if I took the first chick shortly after it hatched, then placed it back under her two days before the next one would hatch? Maybe if she had a little time to bond with it, and if it wasn’t exactly a week old yet, the chances of her excepting it would be greater???

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Thank you for the reply.
She has hatched one chick before and did excellent with it. Do you think with the age gap of the chicks it will be to old to reintroduce at the time?

Yes.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Thanks everyone for the help.
The first one is due to hatch in a day and a half, I don’t know which way I should go yet.
What if I took the first chick shortly after it hatched, then placed it back under her two days before the next one would hatch? Maybe if she had a little time to bond with it, and if it wasn’t exactly a week old yet, the chances of her excepting it would be greater???

Once she bonds or imprints on it and there is no other chick in the nest she will recognise that chick and only that chick as her legitimate offspring. Then she will attempt to drive any additional chicks away from her BABY, while the poor rejected chick asks, "mommy oh mommy, why are you treating me so cruelly?"

 

[CherriesBrood]

Once she bonds or imprints on it and there is no other chick in the nest she will recognise that chick and only that chick as her legitimate offspring. Then she will attempt to drive any additional chicks away from her BABY, while the poor rejected chick asks, "mommy oh mommy, why are you treating me so cruelly?"

Really? So if she accepted the one I took away from her, then when the next one hatches she wouldn’t accept it?

 

[WVduckchick]

All depends on the broody. There are no hard rules with them. You just have to try something and see how it goes. Sorry.

 

[CherriesBrood]

If I were to reintroduce either or chick, how would I go about it, and how would I get my chances of her accepting the baby up???