So I came home today, let the chickens out and noticed a bit of a scuffle going on in the nest box. One of my roos was bugging my broody hen. The eggs are due to hatch around yesterday or the day before but there hadn't been any signs. I shooed the roo outside and looked in the box and noticed one of the eggs had rolled all the way out from under the hen. This egg was one that I stuck under her at the last minute, after it had spent some time in the fridge. I didn't really expect it to hatch, but I was hoping it would (it's the only egg that actually belongs to this hen and she's the one that lays the blue eggs. Of course she stopped laying for several days before she went broody).
Anyway, I noticed a crack in it but I thought maybe it was just from the scuffle, and I really figured that this egg was dead. So I picked at the shell and made a hole in the membrane to see inside whether it had developed at all. Lo and behold there's a gooey thing in there that has a pulse. So now I'm kicking myself. I put the egg back under the hen with the hole facing up (the part with the crack was facing up when I found it). I thought about trying to cover the hole with cling wrap or something, but I don't know if that matters at this point. I don't want bad stuff to get in, but I also don't want to make it harder for the chick to hatch or make it accidentally suffocate when it gets free from its shell but then gets tangled in plastic.
Some of the other eggs are pipping now, so hopefully this hole isn't too premature.
Any advice? (Besides be more patient next time)
Anyway, I noticed a crack in it but I thought maybe it was just from the scuffle, and I really figured that this egg was dead. So I picked at the shell and made a hole in the membrane to see inside whether it had developed at all. Lo and behold there's a gooey thing in there that has a pulse. So now I'm kicking myself. I put the egg back under the hen with the hole facing up (the part with the crack was facing up when I found it). I thought about trying to cover the hole with cling wrap or something, but I don't know if that matters at this point. I don't want bad stuff to get in, but I also don't want to make it harder for the chick to hatch or make it accidentally suffocate when it gets free from its shell but then gets tangled in plastic.
Some of the other eggs are pipping now, so hopefully this hole isn't too premature.
Any advice? (Besides be more patient next time)
