Awww! I wonder why it is taboo? Do you think a mother hen in nature would help them out or do they just let them die? Very curious as I've never looked into it myself
We have to remember that chickens are a domesticated bird. There is wild fowl but I don't think their hatch rates should be compared to domesticated fowl. A domesticated hen who sits on the eggs will not help out an egg. However, they can have a higher hatch rate because their bodies are made to keep the eggs at the correct temperature and humidity naturally. Some breeds make better mothers then others.
People forget that incubating eggs is ALREADY interfering with the natural order of things. An incubator is an artificial way to help an embryo grow and develop in an egg. Many times people will not get the temperature or humidity right, or they will not turn them correctly which will result in early hatches, late hatches, weak or deformed chicks. Also, if you receive shipped hatching eggs or have eggs from inbred or nutrient deficient stock you will have problems with your hatch again including weak or deformed chicks. These then result in a poor hatch, one invariably will end up assisting, and find they have weak or deformed chicks and *blame* it on helping the chick when really there were other identifiable factors that contributed to the problem.
I usually only hatch eggs from MY hens which are raised correctly and have correct nutrition. I use a simple LG with a turner and in the many years I have had chicks I have never had a deformed chick. I monitor the humidity and temp several times a day and always keep it consistent. I have bought eggs from breeders a few times locally and have had great results from one and not so great with another. The "not so great" hatch was a result from porous eggs stored incorrectly of which I informed the breeder. The 6 that developed did fine, the other 6 were either clear or contaminated with bacteria ending in the "ring of death" within a few days. My eggs ended up with 100% fertility and hatch rate compared to 50% of theirs. Like I said before, I have NEVER helped a chick that resulted in a weak, dead, deformed chick. (Much less a chick that died mysteriously a few days to a week later). Assisting a chick from good healthy stock, from an egg that was stored AND incubated properly will have an extremely LOW chance of deformities or other problems. In fact, you shouldn't have a high rate of chicks needing assistance if everything was done correctly. The ones I help are few and far between, and I give it a lot of thought before helping. For instance, a chick who has pipped at the wrong end or a chick who has made no progress in 24 to 36 hours. Since we are already inferering in the natural way of things I really don't see a problem in helping out. It is ridiculous to sit by the incubator, and wait, for hours or days, for that chick to hatch and hearing its peeps get quieter until they have finally stopped and you have a dead chick instead of one that is perfectly happy and healthy in the incubator. I suspect that sometimes people wait too long or not long enough and that is why they have chicks who don't do well shortly after. If you have more then a few problems then you need to evaluate your parental stock, their nutrition, and your storing and incubating technique. It is generally NOT genetic and NOT something that will be passed on to further generations. Some do carry a "lethal gene" such as Araucanas and that should be fully studied before one attempts to breed them.
