orphaned eggs

[hailey6158]

About the 25th of July, my dad and i discovered our bantam hen and her nine eggs. We left her alone, only bringing her some food and water and placing an air conditioner box over her for protection. The first of August, I went out to check on her, and discovered she wasn't on her nest, so I went looking. Neither i nor my father could find her, but we left the eggs alone just in case. She still hadn't returned by the 5th, so I decided to bring them in, hoping they were still okay, seeing as how it had been about ninety degrees and very humid outside. I candled them all and found that all of them were fertile except for one, so I tossed it. The others, I immediately put in a cardboard box, along with a 40 watt bulb lamp, and a damp sponge. I've also turned them three times every day, once when I wake up, once when I get home from school, and once when I go to bed. The ninth when I turned them, I found that one had a small trace of blood on it, but, thinking it was just the hen's, I thought nothing of it. That is, until yesterday, the tenth, I checked them and found the blood had increased so much that it was running down the side of the egg. I informed my mother, she checked them, and told me we should just wait and see. Today, the blood has flowed out even more, to the point where I could smell it, so i cleansed only that area with very warm water, and found a tiny hole, barely visible. I then decided to do a water test on the other eggs, and have thrown out one. I'm only worried about this one, though. We separated it from the rest, in case it was ready to hatch, and the egg moved many times, but nothing else has happened in the nearly 48 hours since then. I've asked many people for some advice, all of whom said to wait and see. I really just need some expert advice on this one, because this is a first.

 

[hailey6158]

I guess I should also mention that this is my first hatch, though I do understand the process, for the most part. Also, I candled them about three days ago, and found outrageous activity inside one egg, which boosted my confidence in this batch immediately.

 

[gimmie birdies]

some times a chick tries to hatch to hatch through the pointy end of the egg, there is more blood veins n'stuff that could cause it to bleed. when a chick is hatching they have to absorb the yolk. when they first peck a hole they are still absorbing but they just needed air, and need to get used to the air. that is why people should not try and help a chick out of an egg for the first 24 hrs or more.

 

[hailey6158]

Sorry, this was taken with my phone. The blood is is coming from the air sac, on the large end of the egg. I haven"t seen any movement inside (or outside, for that matter) of the egg. I cleaned the blood off yesterday, as there was a lot coming out, and I could hardly breathe in the room they're in. Maybe I drowned it? I used a warm wet paper towel, and squeezed off most of the water.

 

[gimmie birdies]

is it crazy moist in that room- or just too much water in the paper towel?

 

[hailey6158]

At anything, it's not moist enough in the room. I can't seem to get the humidity above 50%, which may be part of the problem. Like I said, I'm not using an incubator. I honestly don't think I had too much water on the paper. I just had enough to wipe the blood off.