I see you are in Canada...I find that ambient temperatures play into the overall hatching rate with broodies, especially if I am using (which I do) banties vs. large fowl. The egg(s) that tended to be kept right under her develop on schedule, while those that are closer to the fringes lag behind by a day or two. Often, while she does turn and switch, it seems some get the better spot more often.I can't believe what just happened.
I thought I put ONE fresh egg and FOUR old eggs under her. Turns out I put THREE fresh eggs and TWO old eggs under her. I misread the dates because the pencil had rubbed off slightly on two of them; the others I had done in Sharpie.
...so end of day 22, over one hour ago: I opened up the 2 eggs that were clearly marked as old. Both just yolk, obviously never viable. I begin to open up the 3rd egg by carefully scoring at the air cell with a needle, like I did with the others. I chip away a sizeable hole. Then I see the white membrane move. It's aliveThis chick is NOT ready to hatch. I must have poked a blood vessel, even though I was being careful, and it bled all over my fingers. I was panicking knowing that they can hemorrhage very easily.
An hour later: little Olive Egger is still alive in the incubator. No bleeding anymore. It doesn't look too bad. I have a full incubator going right now so all I had to do was rush it inside and tent it with a warm wet paper towel.If it does make it, I'll wait until I'm certain it's strong/healthy to return to the hen. Right now it's looking at the next few days in the bator, absorbing blood vessels/yolk/hatching process to complete! Very risky.
Of course I'm not touching the last egg now. It's also an OE collected around the same date, and like the one I opened, there's no signs of it being alive. It's under the hen with the chick.
The chick hatched on day 21 with a rough navel. On day 22, another chick hasn't absorbed its veins. And the 3rd egg may be in a similar state. To me these things point to low incubation temps. I thought things were ideal under a broody, though--and she probably only spent 20 min total off the nest every day. I'm completely shocked to find one, potentially two, eggs alive and so behind schedule.
Add: I would have a better knowledge of what was going on had I been able to candle during incubation/lockdown, but these eggs have thick blue shells. So a complete surprise.
I'm referencing the assisted hatching guide for the poor little OE in the ICUbator [Intensive Care Unit].
I have lower hatch rates in the colder months vs warmer months....but for me it is still better letting the hen do all the work....and I really like how my cold month chicks mature faster as they are maturing with the lengthening days...often they are laying by 16 weeks with no apparent harm as adult birds (something hatcheries frown upon).
My experience
LofMc
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