KaleoKolea
In the Brooder
Hi folks! Looking for help/advice from anyone who's had experience helping eggs hatch without a proper incubator.
We have a hen who rejected the rest of her eggs after the first three hatched. She was in an enclosed space but literally rolled the eggs out of the nest repeatedly over the course of 24 hours. This caused one chick to be born prematurely, but that one is back out with the rest and doing just fine after a few days in our care.
Now we have three other eggs that have somehow miraculously survived. We don't have an incubator and can't get one quickly, so we nested the eggs in ti leaves (for humidity) and put them in a box, under a heat lamp, air sac side up, not expecting much.
It's been three days and Holy moly we have some shell breakage! Two little spots where the shell is cracked and pushed out. We check the eggs every few hours so it hasn't been that way long.
Aside from the cracks, there hasn't been any movement or peeping, so I'm a little worried. (which is probably silly because this is such a long shot in the first place.)
In this extremely makeshift set up, are there any steps we can take to increase our already slim chances of a successful hatch?
Temp: ranges from 97 to 101
Humidity: normal humidity in this area is 60-70%, but because the heat lamp will dry things out, we're using the ti leaves as a buffer.
Picture of our preemie chick the day we put it back outside as tax
We have a hen who rejected the rest of her eggs after the first three hatched. She was in an enclosed space but literally rolled the eggs out of the nest repeatedly over the course of 24 hours. This caused one chick to be born prematurely, but that one is back out with the rest and doing just fine after a few days in our care.
Now we have three other eggs that have somehow miraculously survived. We don't have an incubator and can't get one quickly, so we nested the eggs in ti leaves (for humidity) and put them in a box, under a heat lamp, air sac side up, not expecting much.
It's been three days and Holy moly we have some shell breakage! Two little spots where the shell is cracked and pushed out. We check the eggs every few hours so it hasn't been that way long.
Aside from the cracks, there hasn't been any movement or peeping, so I'm a little worried. (which is probably silly because this is such a long shot in the first place.)
In this extremely makeshift set up, are there any steps we can take to increase our already slim chances of a successful hatch?
Temp: ranges from 97 to 101
Humidity: normal humidity in this area is 60-70%, but because the heat lamp will dry things out, we're using the ti leaves as a buffer.
Picture of our preemie chick the day we put it back outside as tax
