Help!! Have these eggs died??

[KBuhmann]

I'm certain the answer to my question is somewhere on this web site (it's been very helpful in the past) but I'm panicking because I'm afraid these eggs may have died and I'm not finding what I'm looking for.

I'm a veterinary technician and I work with a mobile vet. While we were at a clients house this morning to band some goats, the client reported her hen had been killed by a coyote last night and that the eggs she'd been sitting on were due to hatch soon. I went over and felt the eggs and they still felt surprisingly warm and so I scooped them up and kept them warm in the truck (about 80 degrees) until I could get them home.

I now have them sitting on a damp towel under a heat lamp in a cooler with the lid off. The temp seems to have settled on 100 degrees with the humidity at 60%.

My question is this.... how long can eggs go with no warm momma sitting on them? Is there any way to tell if their alive? Should I bother building a proper incubator? Poor babies, do they stand a chance?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Kim

 

[Yorkshire Coop]

Hi you could really do with candling the eggs to see what day they are on. Also to see if you can see movement with in the egg if they are close to hatching though you may not see a great deal as the chick takes up so much space in the egg. I would maybe not sit the eggs on damp cloth but have the cloth to the side. Is there any way could you borrow an incubator off some one so you could set it up quick? Broody hens get off the nest most days for food water poop etc. so if they were still warm she may not have been gone long. My incubator has a cooling system that cools the eggs every day. So they may have chance.https://www.backyardchickens.com/we.../www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101. Hope these links help you seem to be just like me trying to save everything!!!

 

[Outpost JWB]

I agree with Yorkshire. You need to candle them to see what is going on. If you don't have a good flashlight, you can buy one at the hardware store, just look for a high number in lumens. My flashlight was able to candle OE and FM eggs this past spring.

Good luck. If they were not left unattended for very long, you have a chance. Do you have a broody hen you can put them under?

 

[Outpost JWB]

Any update on your eggs? Please.