Jarred eggs, broody hen

[gus2pp]

I let my broody hen out of her dog-kennel-nesting-box daily to dust bathe and eat. My two year old went in today and took all of the eggs out and put them in the regular laying boxes. I wasn't there to see how rough he may have been, but none of them were cracked at all. I put them back in their nest, and mamma is back on them now. They are on day 17 -- so, due to hatch next Tuesday. How much hope should I hold out that they will still hatch?

 

[sourland]

I'm thinking that at 17 days of development they are pretty durable. If they weren't dropped or cracked, I believe that they will hatch. Good luck and give us an update.

 

[gus2pp]

So they should have hatched today, and none did. I'm bummed. How long should I wait before discarding them?

 

[Rainier]

Most of the threads I've read on hatching say to wait until day 25, some go longer.

 

[sourland]

Still hoping for you.

 

[gus2pp]

We have two little hatchlings o far this morning!!! They are both chipmunk colored, and were still wet when I peaked -- so its hard to know which breeds hatched. I had some mutts from my flock (GLW roo over GLW, BR, or gold sexlinks), some EE, and some austrolorps. I'm glad she has at least two babes! *hoping for more*

 

[sourland]

There you go!

 

[Aphrael]

Yay! I'm glad you got some babies.

Hopefully the others are just "sleeping in" and will come out later on today.

 

[gus2pp]

I candled this morning, and couldn't detect and movement at all in the remaining eggs. None of them had even pipped. So I broke them open and had four perfectly formed, dead chicks, and two that were early quiters. We had two EE hatch, one austrolorp, and one I have no idea. It's a beautiful mahogany color, maybe another EE? It doesn't have a muff, though. So not sure. Glad we got the four at least. Seeing the ones that died in their shells does make you sad, though, doesn't it?

 

[bobbi-j]

I candled this morning, and couldn't detect and movement at all in the remaining eggs. None of them had even pipped. So I broke them open and had four perfectly formed, dead chicks, and two that were early quiters. We had two EE hatch, one austrolorp, and one I have no idea. It's a beautiful mahogany color, maybe another EE? It doesn't have a muff, though. So not sure. Glad we got the four at least. Seeing the ones that died in their shells does make you sad, though, doesn't it?

I'm glad you at least got four! For that very reason, I have quit breaking open the ones that didn't hatch. Sometimes they are just too weak or there is a deformity or something else that I can't see.