Hen pooped on eggs on day 20...what to do?!

[kwphotomom]

She has been sitting on 5 eggs we received through the mail, weekly candling shows all are growing right on schedule. Our hen has pooped in the nest several times over the past 3 weeks, I gently clean them with warm water and place back in the nest. Yesterday was day 20, checked on her last night and the eggs were COVERED in poop I cleaned them off, quickly candled them, all moving, and put them back. I'm so worried they are not going to make it! No broken shells, so pipping has not started yet, but I assume it should start today??? And I read that the last 3 days prior to hatch are the most critical time to keep eggs clean as the shell is porous and easily absorbing bacteria. What should I watch for? Anything I can do to make sure these eggs actually hatch ok?

More info: our hen is a black bantam (maybe a d'Anver) and she is sitting on 5 d'Anver eggs)

We put her on them at 3:30 pm exactly 3 weeks ago today....so technically day 21 is actually tomorrow at 3:30pm, correct?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

That is odd that she is pooping in the nest. Is it blocked off or something? If she poops on a pip she could very well suffocate them. that is the main risk at this point.

Are you saying you set them on the 29th? Then today is day 21. Basically, if you set them on a Wednesday, day 21 is a Wednesday.

PS the nest is full of bacteria, as is her backside that is sitting right on the egg. I would be worried about suffocation and general cleanliness, not bacteria.

 

[kwphotomom]

That is odd that she is pooping in the nest. Is it blocked off or something? If she poops on a pip she could very well suffocate them. that is the main risk at this point.

Are you saying you set them on the 29th? Then today is day 21. Basically, if you set them on a Wednesday, day 21 is a Wednesday.

PS the nest is full of bacteria, as is her backside that is sitting right on the egg. I would be worried about suffocation and general cleanliness, not bacteria.

Yes, we set them on March 29th. Her hiney is clean, and I changed out the nest for a clean one last night. She is getting out of the nest to eat and drink, and she poops out of the nest too. She's still laying eggs, laid one yesterday. I am really concerned about her pooping on the newly hatched (or in the process of hatching) eggs, but don't know what to do about it. Should I just stick it out and hope for the best with her on them, or should I purchase an incubator and give that a go for the last few days? I've never used an incubator before, so no idea how to get that going at this point, but surely I could figure it out if need be.

edited to add: Lucky is in a metal trough (same as they have at feed stores for chicks) with a small nest box on one end and food and water at the other end.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

If she is laying eggs it does not sound like she is actually broody. Are her feathers pulled out of her underside?

 

[kwphotomom]

If she is laying eggs it does not sound like she is actually broody. Are her feathers pulled out of her underside?

Yes, she puffs up and snuggles down on the eggs. And they are growing right on schedule, so I assume she is sitting on them as she should. When I removed the nest box to clean the eggs, she flipped out and tried to fly out of the trough, had to cover it to keep her in! But as soon as I put the box with eggs back in with her she immediately went back to the eggs, puffed up and settled in on them and looked at me as if to say, "now get out of here!" She's normally very friendly, but she wasn't last night! She has plenty of space to get out of the nest and sit elsewhere, but she is always on the nest when I check on her through the day. So, I assume she "wants" to be there, but who knows, maybe given the chance she would go hang out in her coop.

 

[kwphotomom]

If she is laying eggs it does not sound like she is actually broody. Are her feathers pulled out of her underside?

Oh, just saw your question about underside feathers. She has pulled out a few, but it's not bare by any means. Think she will keep them warm enough to hatch?

 

[Joe1994]

Can Someone please give me some advice

I have duck egg in incubation, they pip through yesterday (uk time) however there has been hardly any change. One has yellow memebran I have up the humidity even more

What should I do??

I have attach a picture so you all see what I'm seeing
I'm worried and any advice would be helpful

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Oh, just saw your question about underside feathers.  She has pulled out a few, but it's not bare by any means.  Think she will keep them warm enough to hatch?

That is just another sign to me that she is not really broody. Was she acting broody before you put her in the trough? When did you move her to the trough? i don't move mine until after the chicks hatch just so as not to upset them. Perhaps that is why she is being so strange.

 

[kwphotomom]

That is just another sign to me that she is not really broody. Was she acting broody before you put her in the trough? When did you move her to the trough? i don't move mine until after the chicks hatch just so as not to upset them. Perhaps that is why she is being so strange.

We moved her to the trough on Sunday because the previous location was in our bathroom, we had to take her out of the nest a couple of times per day to do her business and I thought she would need to be in a place that we could leave her around the clock on those last few days, so we moved her to the trough thinking she could do her business in there if need be. When she poops in the nest, it is always on the outer edge, never where the eggs are, but she steps in it and then transfers the poo to the eggs when she settles back in on them and turns them.

Just snapped a couple of pics of her in the trough, maybe this will help identify any problems? We are new to chickens, first time hatching eggs! And we were given this hen about 4 months ago, so we don't know her very well either. She always sits on her eggs, so I assumed she would do ok sitting on these.

She is in the process of standing up to come say hi to me in this one:


The eggs with poop from her feet, and you can see the poop on the far upper left



What she looks like when she settles back in on the eggs (this was in the old location):



So what do I do?! Keep her on them and hope for the best? Get an incubator and finish them out in there?

 

[kwphotomom]

Can Someone please give me some advice

I have duck egg in incubation, they pip through yesterday (uk time) however there has been hardly any change. One has yellow memebran I have up the humidity even more

What should I do??

I have attach a picture so you all see what I'm seeing
I'm worried and any advice would be helpful

I don't know much about the hatching process, but I think I read that it takes some longer to go from pip to zip, seems like the average is somewhere around 24 hours or so??? Not sure on that time frame, but it seems like I read the pip to zip is around a day or two. Hope your ducks hatch ok!