My last egg isn't hatching

bheila

Songster
11 Years
Feb 8, 2008
1,381
1
182
Kent, Wa
My chicks have been hatching since yesterday and there seems to be a chick that isn't ready yet. I have candled it several times to make sure that there is a live chick inside. Judging by the size of the chick inside it really doesn't seem that it is big enough yet though, seems to be around the 2 week size. I was thinking that when my broody hen left the nest to eat maybe another hen layed an egg. Or maybe my 5 year old put an egg under our broody. I caught her doing that 4 days ago. So my question is, will my broody lay on this egg until it hatches or should I just finish it in the incubator.
 
That is a tough question.

On one hand, in the incubator you won't have to worry about the hen abandoning it.
On the other hand, you don't know if the hen will accept the chick back in a week, and you don't want to raise a single chick.

Anyone else have an idea?
 
Is your hen raising the chicks that have already hatched or are you brooding them indoors? If she is raising the chicks, then you will have to take the egg away from her so she can do so effectively. It sounds like your plan is to have her raise them, so the only option is to incubate the egg yourself. I don't know if she will accept a week younger chick or not, as I have never tried it. I have had hens accept a week older chick with success. Good luck to you.

Jody
 
Well I decided that it wasn't worth the risk of leaving the egg to the hen. So I put it in the incubator. Hopefully she'll except it when it hatches. I would much rather let my hen do all of the work. Incubating and keeping chicks in a brooder can be kind of timely. Especially since I already have 2 other different aged chicks in brooders right now. Keep your fingers crossed. I really don't feel like setting up a whole other brooder for just one chick, but I guess they are worth all of the work it in the end though. Thanks!
 
Fingers crossed that all works out well.
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