NO sign of chicks...IS THERE STILL HOPE?

[Becky boo]

I have 5 eggs (buff Orpington and Aracana) which 2 broody hens are sitting on. I have candled all eggs and they appear dark/no light shining through, so I’m assuming have something in them.
We are now at day 24! IS THERE STILL HOPE?

 

[Rooster G]

Day 24 under Broodies - hope is waning.

 

[chickenrk]

I understand your pain - thing about broody hens is that not all of the eggs are going to hatch at the same time... I had a chick hatch last saturday and another - same batch this weekend... pain in the neck. I too am a little concerned - have put my incy on this evening where i might pop some under to keep an eye and see. I have been tempted to create a little hole as our newest chick was quite shrink wrapped and her mummy is quite a young hen with a first brood... If you leave them, you give them a chance. She will kick them out if they die/go bad. She might just not be very warm, or they might have a few days in between. Hang in there

 

[CB3fish]

I have 5 eggs (buff Orpington and Aracana) which 2 broody hens are sitting on. I have candled all eggs and they appear dark/no light shining through, so I’m assuming have something in them.
We are now at day 24! IS THERE STILL HOPE?

I have 5 eggs (buff Orpington and Aracana) which 2 broody hens are sitting on. I have candled all eggs and they appear dark/no light shining through, so I’m assuming have something in them.
We are now at day 24! IS THERE STILL HOPE?

The only hope is that maybe you miscounted?? Maybe the rooster was not active enough? and the eggs were not fertile??
I have 23 eggs in my incubator. Today is the 20 th day and this morning I checked the incubator and one chick was out and scattering the other eggs all over the place!! I took the chick out and put it in the brooder. Later 2 more hatched and finally one of mine hatched. A Heritage rock egg. Sooooo, I put a leg ring on it (light rubber for babies) so I will know which chick is mine. I put in 6 eggs and my neighbor put in 17. One thing which was so interesting, I can hear a chick peeping inside an egg. There is no crack yet or partial opening, but I can hear it peeping!!!! Which means they could hear me each time I turned them, I sang to them and prayed for them out loud. I will report later how many of the 23 hatched.

 

[The Moonshiner]

I understand your pain - thing about broody hens is that not all of the eggs are going to hatch at the same time... I had a chick hatch last saturday and another - same batch this weekend... pain in the neck. I too am a little concerned - have put my incy on this evening where i might pop some under to keep an eye and see. I have been tempted to create a little hole as our newest chick was quite shrink wrapped and her mummy is quite a young hen with a first brood... If you leave them, you give them a chance. She will kick them out if they die/go bad. She might just not be very warm, or they might have a few days in between. Hang in there

You had chicks hatch a week apart under a broody?
She hatched a chick and continued to set for another week?
Never heard of anything like that before.
My broodies always hatch theirs within a day of each other and never stay on the nest for more then maybe second day after first hatch.

 

[CB3fish]

I hope new life appears soon.

 

[Becky boo]

I did the water test and no movement, had a peep inside and sadly all eggs were bad.
We had a disturbance on the nest (at night) probably around day 16, when one egg was stolen. I think this may have moved mum off the nest for long enough to cause the eggs to fail.

I have collected some 3 day old chicks and popped them under mum last night. She is a happy adoptive mum.

 

[CB3fish]

What is the water test? Sounds like you are right about a disturbance. Wise move to get babies for her. I did that as well, I bought 6 chicks at the feed store, because only 2 eggs hatched! Those two turned out to be 2 roosters while I bought supposedly female chicks but LO one turned out to be a rooster and a mighty one. Hope all is well.

 

[Becky boo]

What is the water test? Sounds like you are right about a disturbance. Wise move to get babies for her. I did that as well, I bought 6 chicks at the feed store, because only 2 eggs hatched! Those two turned out to be 2 roosters while I bought supposedly female chicks but LO one turned out to be a rooster and a mighty one. Hope all is well.

It was to pop the eggs gently into a bowl of warm water and see if they move about (after water has settled) as they didn’t move I then made a tiny crack in the air sac end to see what was going on inside....smelly grey goop was inside!

 

[CB3fish]

Hi, Thank you. Today is day 21 so I will wait a few days. The supplier said even on day 24 the eggs can hatch. Sooooooooooooo, l am waiting and watching, so far no shows!! :-(