Need help and advice please

[Liam G]

Hi I have two Broody bantams sitting on fertile eggs. We are now on day 21 and there is no chicks, no movement or noise coming from the eggs at all. Does that mean there likely be nothing hatching and how much longer should we leave them?

P.s- I am new to hatching chicks as this is just my second time doing it.

King Regards
Liam

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined us.

First I'll ask a standard question, are you counting the days right? An egg does not have a day's worth of development when you put it under a hen, it takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development. When counting days you say "1" the day after you start them. It's a fairly common mistake. An easy way to check yourself is that the day of the week you start then is the day of the week the 21 days are up. If you start them on a Friday the 21 days are up on a Friday.

I purposely said "the 21 days are up" instead of saying "the day they should hatch". The 21 day thing is a guideline, not an absolute. There are a lot of things that can affect when the eggs hatch. The popular one is incubating temperature, warm they are early, cool they are late. But heredity, humidity, how and how long they are stored, and other differences in eggs can affect how long it takes. Some of these can be differences in individual eggs, some affect the entire hatch, under a broody or in an incubator.

My eggs often hatch a full two days early, under a broody hen or in my incubator. Sometimes some eggs are right on time, none are ever late. Some hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching, some drag on for two full days. I don't know why mine are so consistently early, even under a broody. Others on here say they often have late eggs, even under a broody. How was the timing under your first broody?

I would not give up yet but if you don't see some activity after 24 days I think it's getting really late. I hesitate to mention this because some people seem to think it's a fun way to mess with their eggs, I consider it a desperation measure to keep from throwing away a viable egg, not just something fun to do. But you can do a float test after 24 days. Put the eggs in a bowl of water. They should float. If they don't float they are not going to hatch. If there is a live chick inside the egg will wiggle on its own. If the egg floats without wiggling it will not hatch. If you see an egg wiggling, put it back under the broody, it may still hatch.

Do not do this early, the chick may not have developed enough to wiggle the egg. Do not do this if the egg shell is not intact, if it has already pipped you can drown the chick. As I said, consider this a desperation measure just before you toss the eggs.

Them not hatching on time is stressful but not all hope is lost. I wish you luck.

 

[Liam G]

Hi, welcome to the forum. Glad you joined us.

First I'll ask a standard question, are you counting the days right? An egg does not have a day's worth of development when you put it under a hen, it takes 24 hours for it to have a day's worth of development. When counting days you say "1" the day after you start them. It's a fairly common mistake. An easy way to check yourself is that the day of the week you start then is the day of the week the 21 days are up. If you start them on a Friday the 21 days are up on a Friday.

I purposely said "the 21 days are up" instead of saying "the day they should hatch". The 21 day thing is a guideline, not an absolute. There are a lot of things that can affect when the eggs hatch. The popular one is incubating temperature, warm they are early, cool they are late. But heredity, humidity, how and how long they are stored, and other differences in eggs can affect how long it takes. Some of these can be differences in individual eggs, some affect the entire hatch, under a broody or in an incubator.

My eggs often hatch a full two days early, under a broody hen or in my incubator. Sometimes some eggs are right on time, none are ever late. Some hatches are over within 24 hours of the first one hatching, some drag on for two full days. I don't know why mine are so consistently early, even under a broody. Others on here say they often have late eggs, even under a broody. How was the timing under your first broody?

I would not give up yet but if you don't see some activity after 24 days I think it's getting really late. I hesitate to mention this because some people seem to think it's a fun way to mess with their eggs, I consider it a desperation measure to keep from throwing away a viable egg, not just something fun to do. But you can do a float test after 24 days. Put the eggs in a bowl of water. They should float. If they don't float they are not going to hatch. If there is a live chick inside the egg will wiggle on its own. If the egg floats without wiggling it will not hatch. If you see an egg wiggling, put it back under the broody, it may still hatch.

Do not do this early, the chick may not have developed enough to wiggle the egg. Do not do this if the egg shell is not intact, if it has already pipped you can drown the chick. As I said, consider this a desperation measure just before you toss the eggs.

Them not hatching on time is stressful but not all hope is lost. I wish you luck.

Thank you for your reply I will update you if the situation changes

 

[Liam G]

Thank you for your reply I will update you if the situation changes

Hi, Really random but I forgot to update you on what happened, got to day 23 and five hatched and then another two hatched. Sadly we lost the other two that hatched the day after one got cold as the hens rejected it and the other we removed and had in the house it was doing okay for a week then ended up dying.

kind Regards
Liam

 

[MLG1900]

Hi, Really random but I forgot to update you on what happened, got to day 23 and five hatched and then another two hatched. Sadly we lost the other two that hatched the day after one got cold as the hens rejected it and the other we removed and had in the house it was doing okay for a week then ended up dying.

kind Regards
Liam

Sorry to hear the bad news!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Glad you at least got some.