My roo died

[2sparrows]

My main roo, Ares, just died on July 3rd. He was a great protector... Ruled the roost. I have a house roo, & a bantam silkie roo, but they aren't close to my girls.
Ive read eggs can still be fertile up to four weeks after mating. I only have two girls. Problem: One is sitting and started sitting last week of June. So I know, even if I break her, I only have a window of a week to collect eggs for hatching. I took several from her the day before he died and put them in an incubator (small, but full) bc she was refusing to move, eat or drink. My other hen had stopped laying for a few days, but started back up yesterday. Id like fertilized eggs from both of them...bc I really just want his offspring. As dumb as it sounds, I'm devastated at losing him, as he was my first roo, along w being the runt, and when he got older, injured, & that's when the bonding happened. What can I do? I'm afraid to "de-brood"? Her bc of the current three eggs of my other girl, that she's hatching...I don't even know if the eggs in the incubator are even going to be successful bc I've never done it before. I just want to increase my knowledge, options and chances of getting a mini-Ares.

 

[Fluffy Lambs]

Have you candled the eggs in the incubator?

 

[Regina Larsen]

My main roo, Ares, just died on July 3rd. He was a great protector... Ruled the roost. I have a house roo, & a bantam silkie roo, but they aren't close to my girls.
Ive read eggs can still be fertile up to four weeks after mating. I only have two girls. Problem: One is sitting and started sitting last week of June. So I know, even if I break her, I only have a window of a week to collect eggs for hatching. I took several from her the day before he died and put them in an incubator (small, but full) bc she was refusing to move, eat or drink. My other hen had stopped laying for a few days, but started back up yesterday. Id like fertilized eggs from both of them...bc I really just want his offspring. As dumb as it sounds, I'm devastated at losing him, as he was my first roo, along w being the runt, and when he got older, injured, & that's when the bonding happened. What can I do? I'm afraid to "de-brood"? Her bc of the current three eggs of my other girl, that she's hatching...I don't even know if the eggs in the incubator are even going to be successful bc I've never done it before. I just want to increase my knowledge, options and chances of getting a mini-Ares.

Sorry you lost him

 

[NatJ]

I don't even know if the eggs in the incubator are even going to be successful bc I've never done it before.

Have you candled them yet, to see if they are developing?

If I'm reading your post right, those eggs went in the incubator on July 2, and today is July 9. That should be long enough for you to see some development if all is going well.

Ive read eggs can still be fertile up to four weeks after mating.

In general, eggs laid in the first week after mating have the highest chance of being fertile. The chance goes down with time, with some hen/rooster combinations producing fertile eggs for longer than others. I cannot predict how long your hens will be laying fertile eggs.

One is sitting and started sitting last week of June. So I know, even if I break her, I only have a window of a week to collect eggs for hatching...I'm afraid to "de-brood"? Her bc of the current three eggs of my other girl, that she's hatching...

I think it makes sense to let this one keep sitting. The eggs she is sitting on now are likely to be fertile, but you might not get any more fertile eggs if you break her and then she takes a while to start laying again.

My other hen had stopped laying for a few days, but started back up yesterday.

If you are willing to buy another incubator, you could collect that hen's eggs for a week and put them in the incubator, and then collect her eggs for another week and put them in the incubator too, and maybe another week after that.

Eggs are most likely to hatch if you store them for one week or less before putting them in the incubator. But you can put another batch in each week, until you reach a point where the eggs do not develop, showing that they are infertile.

With two incubators, you can avoid the problems of chicks hatching while other eggs are still incubating. Just use the small incubator as the hatcher-- let the eggs that are in it now hatch, then move the next set of eggs in there for lockdown and hatching, and then the set after that, and so on.

 

[InterestingChickens]

I would concentrate on hatching the eggs you already have in the incubator. If this means researching up about it, do just that. This will make sure you have the highest success rate possible. There are many good articles here on BYC about hatching chicken eggs, so if you haven't read those already, I would suggest doing that.

If your hen is still refusing to eat and drink, I would break her from brooding anyway for her health and wellbeing.