I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

[HeritageFan]

Personally, I would candle the egg again. If there is movement still, I’d run to my local tractor supply or feed store and pick up an incubator. It takes a bit to get stable for temps and humidity... but it’s a good tool to have on hand even if it’s too late to save this little one
I would also keep moving the egg next to mama while you are trying to get the incubator running and stable.
You may/ may not also be able to order one off Amazon w a quick delivery if you don’t have anything available locally.
....do you have any local fowl friends that might have one you could borrow for access ASAP?
If you do lose that one, don’t beat yourself up. You have to know that you did your best and you won’t repeat the mistake of not candling before deciding they are ready to be discarded
Best of luck to you and your little ones

 

[Chicken_of_WA_kn]

The problem is that the other chicks do move.
The hen can stay with the egg, or she can move with the chicks, but she cannot do both.

I think you are going to have to choose one or the other: either do something different with the egg (incubator or give up), or do something different with the chicks (put them in a brooder and leave the hen alone with the egg, in which case she might sit on it or she might be ready to quit: you won't know unless you try it.)


In future, if you have a broody hen sitting on eggs, you might want to candle the eggs before you decide about buying chicks.


Hens will typically lay fertile eggs for at least a week after the rooster is gone, and sometimes for longer (up to 3+ weeks in some rare cases.)

Allow for 3 weeks of incubation, it's not surprising to have chicks hatch a month or so after getting rid of a rooster.

Thank you ! I’m sure not going to give up on this egg. I think I’m going to take advice from some other rescues and try my best to incubate it. But yeah, we didn’t think we should candle them because we had no idea they were fertilized. There was no way we could have known. We must have missed the eggs when grabbing them.

 

[Chicken_of_WA_kn]

Personally, I would candle the egg again. If there is movement still, I’d run to my local tractor supply or feed store and pick up an incubator. It takes a bit to get stable for temps and humidity... but it’s a good tool to have on hand even if it’s too late to save this little one
I would also keep moving the egg next to mama while you are trying to get the incubator running and stable.
You may/ may not also be able to order one off Amazon w a quick delivery if you don’t have anything available locally.
....do you have any local fowl friends that might have one you could borrow for access ASAP?
If you do lose that one, don’t beat yourself up. You have to know that you did your best and you won’t repeat the mistake of not candling before deciding they are ready to be discarded
Best of luck to you and your little ones

Thanks that’s really helpful! I will check when some locals. But again, we haven’t had a rooster for almost a month and we had been gone so much that we collected all the eggs before we go. It was a complete accident and we would have candled them before if we knew the rooster had left us with some eggs.

 

[Chicken_of_WA_kn]

I’m sorry for the nasty judgmental replies you received. Totally rude and uncalled for. Guess their own human mom never taught them the Thumper rule.

HAHA. Thank you! I’m glad almost everyone else is giving real advice! I’m a really empathetic person to the point where I feel empathy for fictional characters, and I wanna go into a career that deal with helping animals, so I hope you can see why it’s hard for me to let this egg go

 

[Chicken_of_WA_kn]

My family and I just bought 6 chicks to put under our broody hen. After we grabbed the eggs out from under her we replaced them with the chicks. We brought the eggs inside and started opening them as a joke thinking “These have been under her for a while they probably smell bad.” And then after opening 3 eggs my mom freaks out. Inside the egg my mom opened was an almost fully developed egg. It looked to be 2-3 days away from hatching. It was even trying to breath. It was so sad and me and my mom were almost crying. We were very shocked we got rid of our roosters almost a month ago. So we were very surprised we had forgotten to grab that egg from under her. We gathered the rest of the eggs that were under her and started candling them while my brother “took care” of the chick. It was very sad. We found that another egg had a chick inside of it. We were very confused for a while and took the egg back outside and put it under the hen. I checked several times today and she wasn’t on the egg when I checked. But when I put the egg next to her she would put it under herself. But I think them the chicks would move she would stand up and move to sit on them where they were. Leaving the egg behind. But I would set the egg next to her and she would push it under herself. And scared that she will move off the egg to sit on her chicks again, and be unable to get the egg back over to herself. I’m very concerned. I care very deeply for this egg considering what had happened to the other, and I don’t want to leave it to mother nature. Is there a way I can incubate an egg without an incubator? Or help? Please I need to do something.

I want to say thanks to everyone. Good or bad comments. But… THE CHICK IS HATCHING RIGHT NOW!

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

I want to say thanks to everyone. Good or bad comments. But… THE CHICK IS HATCHING RIGHT NOW!

Did you put it in your boobs? I gotta know.

 

[Chicken_of_WA_kn]

Did you put it in your boobs? I gotta know.

No lol. I wrapped it in a blanket. A damp towel, and water near it. Under a heat lamp. Changing it’s water daily and wrapping it in a damp towel when the other dries.

 

[Mason Farm and Ranch]

No lol. I wrapped it in a blanket. A damp towel, and water near it. Under a heat lamp. Changing it’s water daily and wrapping it in a damp towel when the other dries.

Hmmm. Noted. I tried something similar with my oven light when my incubator died mid-hatch. I had a 50% hatch rate. Mainly because I accidentally cooked the last ones when the temperature went up to 114°. Now I feel like an idiot. I have 2 heat lamps.

The things we do in a panick.

 

[Chicken_of_WA_kn]

Hmmm. Noted. I tried something similar with my oven light when my incubator died mid-hatch. I had a 50% hatch rate. Mainly because I accidentally cooked the last ones when the temperature went up to 114°. Now I feel like an idiot. I have 2 heat lamps.

The things we do in a panick.

I feel you. I’m still not sure what I did was i deal tho.

 

[Nabiki]

I want to say thanks to everyone. Good or bad comments. But… THE CHICK IS HATCHING RIGHT NOW!

Congratulations!