Move brooding hen before or after hatch day?

[WVduckchick]

OK... Thanks for the info.
Still wouldn't candling them be safer?

Absolutely!!

 

[Fields Mountain Farm]

Not true! Sorry, but I've seen many people ruin live chicks from a negative float test.

That was my concern too...

 

[Lelilamom]

I candled them this morning and only two had chicks in them. Not moving Poor mama. I took the other two out of the nest and left the two in there. I'm hoping she senses they are lost and kicks them out of the nest. I want her to learn. She's been a good broody - very dedicated, but she's young. Maybe she'll try again in the spring.

 

[Lelilamom]

BTW, I cracked opened the two that weren't viable to see how far they had developed. Let me just say this to you all. Don't. They don't appear to have been fertilized. But they'd been under her for 3+ weeks. Holy smell batman.

 

[WVduckchick]

Haha, not pleasant, huh! Been there done that. You can put it in a Ziploc bag first, the break it, if you really wanna look.

So what happened to the one that had pipped? Was it dead? I may have misunderstood, but i thought the dead one you found came from the broken egg.

And even though you didn't see movement in the last two eggs, are you positive they are dead?

I've had lots of broodies, but only a couple experiences with none hatching. The girls either stayed broody, or took a week and went right back to brooding. So something for you to consider if she ends up with nothing.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I treat all that don't hatch like they are grenades. I know that smell.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I open my unhatched eggs all the time as long as they don't smell like rotten eggs. If they smell like rotten eggs that means bacteria has gotten inside and multiplied. Those things are nasty, treat them with care.

That's never happened to me with any incubator eggs, but I don't set dirty eggs. That happened to me once with a broody hen when an egg broke under her fairly early in incubation and got the other eggs dirty. Other than that one time it has never been an issue.

 

[Lelilamom]

I've had three or four girls go broody. My Buff Orpington is a good brooder, but has lousy brood rates - 2 out of every 10 eggs hatch. I've candled her eggs and maybe 7 out of ten were developing at 1 week so maybe not all were fertilized. I had a RSL that went broody and had zero hatch rate. She never stayed on the same nest longer than 3 days. We've incubated eggs a few times and the highest success rate we've ever had was 50% even. All our chicks ever were barnyard hybrids. We've never tried to hatch a heritage bird - and that right there could be the issue. A cross between an EE roo and a Wyandotte hen just may not be meant to survive.

 

[Lelilamom]

So what happened to the one that had pipped? Was it dead? I may have misunderstood, but i thought the dead one you found came from the broken egg.

And even though you didn't see movement in the last two eggs, are you positive they are dead?

The one that pipped is still under her. Just one tiny hole - and I heard PEEPING from it on Friday, but nothing since. I'm guessing they are dead. since I don't see any activity in them, and no more pipping or peeping. The dead one I found must have been from the crushed egg. It was clearly not developed fully - no feathers and very small.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had three or four girls go broody. My Buff Orpington is a good brooder, but has lousy brood rates - 2 out of every 10 eggs hatch. I've candled her eggs and maybe 7 out of ten were developing at 1 week so maybe not all were fertilized. I had a RSL that went broody and had zero hatch rate. She never stayed on the same nest longer than 3 days. We've incubated eggs a few times and the highest success rate we've ever had was 50% even. All our chicks ever were barnyard hybrids. We've never tried to hatch a heritage bird - and that right there could be the issue. A cross between an EE roo and a Wyandotte hen just may not be meant to survive.

A cross between those should have good hybrid vigor. I really don't think the parents' breeds are the problem. There a re a lot of different things that can cause poor hatch rates, either in an incubator or under a broody. Health and nutrition of the parents, how and how long the eggs are stored before incubation starts, setting clean eggs, setting regular sized eggs for the hen, not unusually large or small of those tiny pullet eggs. Usually broody hens do better than incubators. Sometimes you just get lousy hatches even it things appear the same to you. If you are consistently getting hatch rates of less than 50% you might want to start a thread describing how you are going about it and see if someone can help. You should be doing a lot better than that on average.