Amy_in_WV
In the Brooder
- Jun 23, 2020
- 16
- 31
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I'm going to make myself sound like a total fool, but I'm at a loss and hoping someone can offer some advice.
I have a bantam cochin hen that went broody last month. After taking her eggs for a week or so, we finally decided to her try her hand at motherhood.
We made several mistakes along the way. Probably the biggest mistake was not initially separating her from the flock and not removing new eggs during that time span...thus we've ended up with a staggered hatch and I have no idea what "day" any of my eggs are/were. The first time I picked her up off the nest and candled the eggs was about 10 days after she initially started sitting. She had a total of 14 eggs at that point. After candling, I removed some that appeared not to be developing and this left us with 10. She kicked 2 of the remaining 10 eggs out of the nest a few days later. The first chick hatched last Saturday. This left her with 7 eggs. Even though she had 1 chick she continued to sit faithfully. As of this Saturday, nothing else had hatched or pipped so I brought them inside and did a float test. Only one egg showed signs of life (rocking in the water) so I put it back under her. I cracked 5 of the 6 "bad" eggs and found that 2 were rotten, 2 were feathered but didn't appear to be fully developed, and one appeared to be fully developed with a mostly absorbed yolk but was dead. I was starting to lose hope on the last egg so I candled it last night and heard it chirping. I put it back under her and couldn't wait to get out to the coop this morning to see if we had a new chick. (She's in the coop but is separated from the flock). However, there was only an egg...no signs of an external pip much less a chick.
I candled it again and saw no movement and heard no cheeps but I can clearly see the beak in the air cell. Should I intervene by creating an external pip, continue to wait, or do you think the chick has died?
I have a bantam cochin hen that went broody last month. After taking her eggs for a week or so, we finally decided to her try her hand at motherhood.
We made several mistakes along the way. Probably the biggest mistake was not initially separating her from the flock and not removing new eggs during that time span...thus we've ended up with a staggered hatch and I have no idea what "day" any of my eggs are/were. The first time I picked her up off the nest and candled the eggs was about 10 days after she initially started sitting. She had a total of 14 eggs at that point. After candling, I removed some that appeared not to be developing and this left us with 10. She kicked 2 of the remaining 10 eggs out of the nest a few days later. The first chick hatched last Saturday. This left her with 7 eggs. Even though she had 1 chick she continued to sit faithfully. As of this Saturday, nothing else had hatched or pipped so I brought them inside and did a float test. Only one egg showed signs of life (rocking in the water) so I put it back under her. I cracked 5 of the 6 "bad" eggs and found that 2 were rotten, 2 were feathered but didn't appear to be fully developed, and one appeared to be fully developed with a mostly absorbed yolk but was dead. I was starting to lose hope on the last egg so I candled it last night and heard it chirping. I put it back under her and couldn't wait to get out to the coop this morning to see if we had a new chick. (She's in the coop but is separated from the flock). However, there was only an egg...no signs of an external pip much less a chick.
I candled it again and saw no movement and heard no cheeps but I can clearly see the beak in the air cell. Should I intervene by creating an external pip, continue to wait, or do you think the chick has died?
It also appears to have been a chick from my favorite banty hen. The chick was black and I only have one black hen and a gray rooster. I know this is just a part of hatching eggs but I can't help but be a little sad. 
