Help!!! She left the nest again!!!

[Dianekw]

I have a buff orp who goes broody every couple of months, and last year in Oct, I let her have a batch of fertile eggs to sit on, but she gave up 3 days early. I figured it was her youth(only a little over a year), and maybe that it was too cool, and maybe that only one egg had a viable baby in it(I opened them all...only one had a fully developed chick...can she sense that?). Anyway, when she went broody again at the end of March, I set 9 eggs under her and she was sitting like a champ. Now, today, 19 days in, she gave up again! I had candled the eggs on day 14, and ALL of them showed SOMEthing in there(thick shells, couldn't see into em well, but at least one of em was twitching!, and the rest all showed at LEAST veins in the lighter little bit of the egg, so I think they all have something developing in there...I dont know how long she's been off, but the eggs are cold, and she's happily puttering around the run, dustbathing, eating, perching on a branch... I took the eggs and have them in a box with a heat lamp heating up over em now, but I dont know what else to do...do I turn em? What temp do I put em under? I dont have a brooder...was just planning on letting Bertha take care of it all. I dont know HOW to hatch eggs from a brooder, or if the "brooder" I made is even gonna work? HELP!!! Is there any way I can get her to sit again? I put fake eggs in their place in case she changed her mind, but ???? Any advice would be great...I have no idea what to do!!!

 

[lomine]

I don't know how much help I'll be since I'm still a newbie at incubation. But I can answer a couple questions.

Since it's day 19 they would be going into lockdown if they were in an incubator. That means no more turning. They should be around 99.5 degrees F. Try not to go above 101.

The tricky thing for you will be getting the humidity up. Generally the humidity at lockdown should be 15% above what it was before. Not sure what your levels are where you live. If you can get it between 60-75% I think that would be good. You can try adding some containers with water or wet sponges to your box. You'll need a hygrometer to measure humidity.

Eggs can be fine if they cool down for a bit so there's still hope.

 

[Dianekw]

I don't know how much help I'll be since I'm still a newbie at incubation. But I can answer a couple questions.

Since it's day 19 they would be going into lockdown if they were in an incubator. That means no more turning. They should be around 99.5 degrees F. Try not to go above 101.

The tricky thing for you will be getting the humidity up. Generally the humidity at lockdown should be 15% above what it was before. Not sure what your levels are where you live. If you can get it between 60-75% I think that would be good. You can try adding some containers with water or wet sponges to your box. You'll need a hygrometer to measure humidity.

Eggs can be fine if they cool down for a bit so there's still hope.

thank you! That helps...a little...where the heck do I get a hygrometer fast? :-\ We dont really have very good access to "farm" stuff cuz I'm in a pretty metropolitan area...would your average pet store have something like that? :-\ ...any way I can get away without it if not? Our average humidity is pretty low to start with...I'm in California where we dont even think about humidity cuz it's never an issue :-\

 

[1cock2hens]

yes a pet store will have hygrometers. so will a hardware store/ walmart etc.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Ok, your temp needs to be 100-102 measured at the top of the eggs.

You need to get humidity up, especially once they start hatching to about 60% somehow.

They may still be viable. Kinda hard to tell but sometimes life DOES find a way.

But ONE thing is for SURE... No free pass this time and NO more sitting for this consistently unsuccessful broody. It's obviously too much for her. If you want.. next time you could try having your eggs already incubating so she sits less time OR I like to adopt feed store chicks and get to try new varieties without having to deal with boys. Not sure I would chance it... but I personally would NOT allow her to brood again.

Good luck!

 

[Farmer Doc]

I got mine at Lowes Home Improvement. Good luck!

 

[lomine]

If the pet store sells lizard supplies they would have hygrometers.

 

[Dianekw]

Thanks everybody! I kept reading more and more, and read that I should try to get her to sit again, so I did...she sat on the fake eggs for several hours while I checked the temp on my real eggs every few minutes, only to find out that my heat lamp cant seem to stay at the same temp! I had them going at just under 100 degrees for almost an hour, then it jumped to 104! A couple of those poor little eggs felt kinda hot! :-\ Most of them felt nice and toasty warm, just like they did under Bertha up til now, so I think most of em are ok, but I dont trust my lamp anymore! Once I realized Bertha was settled again, I put the eggs back under her for the night...I dont think she'll have any reason to get up and leave them in the middle of the night. I'll check on her in the morning again to make sure she's still sitting. She's only got another day or two...I think it's safer to just remind her to get back on the nest if she stays off too long again, rather than to try and put the eggs under that heat lamp again :-\ Worst case, if nothing hatches, I go buy some baby chicks and try and slip em under her...if she doesn't take em, I'll just raise em inside in a box in my sun room like I did my original chickens(the current "bigs"), and integrate them into the coop later. I was just hoping I could do the "easy" route with a broody hen! ;-)

 

[GreenbrierChickens]

Fingers crossed for you. My hen Fajita has left her eggs twice now at day 15. Cold, and she's sitting on fresh laid eggs from other hens. Not looking too good. But I have another hen hatching out 9 chicks that has not left yet. So I may take 1 from her and give it to Fajita if hers don't work out.

 

[Dianekw]

Thanks! Shes back on the eggs...overnight she was fine, but got up again while I was away at class. When I got home, one egg was crushed, completely formed, but dead chick. I shushed her back onto the nest, where she promptly stepped on and cracked another egg. That chick is still cheeping under her an hour later, so maybe its gonna be ok? She keeps peeking at it and clucking...picking/pushing/pulling at it every once in a while....is that normal ??? Is she trying to help it? Or hurt it???? She seems mostly pretty calm about sitting, and the chirping, so I'm hoping she's trying to help it out...it's still partly in the shell. I'm such a nervous nelly over this! How long does it normally take a chick to fully emerge from the shell??? And how far apart can eggs from the same set date hatch? How long should i wait before I chuck any unhatched eggs? I think I'm gonna have a stroke if this lasts more than another day! LOL!