- Nov 30, 2011
- 260
- 18
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Something got into our shed Sunday morning and killed most of our birds. Many of the victims were broody hens and ducks. We have a pretty loose day-range system. Four ducks were sitting on a huge pile of duck and chicken eggs, and a muscovy was also setting on a clutch of duck and chicken eggs. Hens have been adding to these two clutches all along. My son candled the duck eggs a few days ago and they were all viable and pretty far along.
I put as many eggs as I could under a broody hen who survived and put the overflow in the incubator. Now i have a problem because I don't know how far along any of the eggs are, and I don't know how long they sat unattended.
The hen has a mix of duck and chicken eggs. She settled right down on them but she accidentally broke one as she was trying to make herself comfortable. I found a dead chick outside the nest, which I think came from the broken egg. (I would guess she tossed it out to keep her nest clean?) It looked fully developed, but had a tiny 1/4" bit of yolk sack still showing, so I guess it maybe had another day or two to go.
I checked on her this morning and there are no pips. Since she has been sitting all summer on a dud egg, I am pretty sure she will stay where she is until at least a few of the eggs hatch.
My bigger problem is the incubator. Should I put it on "Hatching" humidity or "setting" humidity? And If I put it on the lower humidity, how will I know when to turn it up?
Also, the eggs were pretty dirty. I opted to just place them as quickly and with the least amount of disturbance as I could. Should I now make an effort to clean the shells or just leave well-enough alone?
I put as many eggs as I could under a broody hen who survived and put the overflow in the incubator. Now i have a problem because I don't know how far along any of the eggs are, and I don't know how long they sat unattended.
The hen has a mix of duck and chicken eggs. She settled right down on them but she accidentally broke one as she was trying to make herself comfortable. I found a dead chick outside the nest, which I think came from the broken egg. (I would guess she tossed it out to keep her nest clean?) It looked fully developed, but had a tiny 1/4" bit of yolk sack still showing, so I guess it maybe had another day or two to go.
I checked on her this morning and there are no pips. Since she has been sitting all summer on a dud egg, I am pretty sure she will stay where she is until at least a few of the eggs hatch.
My bigger problem is the incubator. Should I put it on "Hatching" humidity or "setting" humidity? And If I put it on the lower humidity, how will I know when to turn it up?
Also, the eggs were pretty dirty. I opted to just place them as quickly and with the least amount of disturbance as I could. Should I now make an effort to clean the shells or just leave well-enough alone?