incubate 1 egg a day late??

Hillschicks

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Some friends of ours had a weasel get in and kill their entire flock... We gave them our mini advance incubator to hopefully hatch what they had on hand... This morning they were going out to clean up the mess in the coop and found one more egg from their only EE chicken... They want to put it into the incubator as well and want to know if it will be bad to add an egg roughly 12-15 hours later than the others... Would this be a problem?? Might have to be locked down a bit longer, but will also get one day less turning... That gonna be a big deal??
 
I’d say go for it. It’s not the ideal world but I think the odds are pretty good of things working out as long as that egg is viable.

Turning is not all that important after 14 days. Don’t worry about that part.

There can easily be 15 hours difference in hatching times for eggs even if they were started at the same time. It’s possible they could run into some types of problems, but the odds are reasonable the difference won’t cause a big problem. Chicks can go for 3 days without food or water after hatch because they absorb the yolk. That egg should hatch within that time period.

Not every egg that has pipped will get shrink-wrapped if you open the incubator before it hatches. It can happen but often doesn’t. I’d be willing to take that chance.

The other big problem with a staggered hatch is that the hatching chicks really mess up the other eggs, getting all kinds of nasty stuff on them. The risk from that is that the later eggs could get bacteria inside and the chick die, maybe the egg explodes. I really don’t think there will be enough time difference in them hatching for that to be an issue with your friends.

I’m not a proponent of staggered hatches unless you have a separate incubator to use only as a hatcher. But in this case, I’d go for it. I think it will work out.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your friends' misfortune. They can add the egg, yes. I've added eggs to a broody hen's clutch once, 24 hours after she started sitting. The eggs hatched over a 2 day period and there were no late hatches.
 
Awesome, thanks... They will like this.. they need some good news :)
 

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