Removing some eggs from incubator to put under hen. Yes or No?

[Willawong Hill]

Thanks a heap @Faraday40 , got the humidity up to 80, but i might try the wet towel too. can see it moving rhythmically, heartbeat rather than breathing i'm guessing. can see some yellow which i assume is unabsorbed yolk sac so probably a while off hatching. I can't believe how far behind the other one it was.

 

[Willawong Hill]

Think i shrink wrapped my baby i've been watching it move all day but it was still last time, i cleared the membrane away from its nostrils but i think it's gone. Maybe i should have kept oiling the membrane every couple of hours? or maybe it was never going to make it. So hard to know when to help or not.

 

[PDXJULES]

Think i shrink wrapped my baby i've been watching it move all day but it was still last time, i cleared the membrane away from its nostrils but i think it's gone. Maybe i should have kept oiling the membrane every couple of hours? or maybe it was never going to make it. So hard to know when to help or not.

i hope just sleeping. I'm on day 3 of Shipped eggs and things don't look right. might be about to learn the hard way.

 

[Faraday40]

Think i shrink wrapped my baby i've been watching it move all day but it was still last time, i cleared the membrane away from its nostrils but i think it's gone. Maybe i should have kept oiling the membrane every couple of hours? or maybe it was never going to make it. So hard to know when to help or not.

Sorry for the loss. You may have a cool spot in your incubator which delayed that egg or it was just a weak chick. Often if there is some type of genetic defect, the chick will die before hatching. If assisted, you might get a very weak chick that dies after a few days. That's why the mama hen leaves the nest after a couple days. Those unhatched eggs, would get left behind to make sure only the healthy chicks survive. Nature can be harsh.

 

[Willawong Hill]

The eggs started off under a hen which left the nest so I wonder if it was delayed due to that also. opened it up afterwards and it looked good though hadn't finished absorbing yolk. If i had cleared its nostrils earlier it might have survived, or left it alone in the first place. Who knows. There is another little chick in the incubator this morning (from a batch 3 days after) so at least that went well. I'm up to 4 chicks from less than a dozen of my eggs. Which now outdoes the 3 chicks i've managed to hatch out of 31 eggs i've brought. Interestingly the 2 to die in shell were pure silkies, the 4 that have hatched are from the same silkie roosters but with barnevelder or pekin (bantam cochin) mothers.

 

[Faraday40]

The eggs started off under a hen which left the nest so I wonder if it was delayed due to that also. opened it up afterwards and it looked good though hadn't finished absorbing yolk. If i had cleared its nostrils earlier it might have survived, or left it alone in the first place. Who knows. There is another little chick in the incubator this morning (from a batch 3 days after) so at least that went well. I'm up to 4 chicks from less than a dozen of my eggs. Which now outdoes the 3 chicks i've managed to hatch out of 31 eggs i've brought. Interestingly the 2 to die in shell were pure silkies, the 4 that have hatched are from the same silkie roosters but with barnevelder or pekin (bantam cochin) mothers.

I have one 3-yr-old silkie hen that has never had a biological chick. The roo has no problem fertilizing the other bantams - including my other silkie. It's just her. I wonder if it's the vaulted skull.

Don't beat yourself up about the chick. You can only move forward and learn from mistakes. ..... and you don't even know if there was a mistake. If you did nothing, it would have surely died weeks ago when the hen left the nest. You saved some, so that's a good thing.

 

[JRies]

The eggs started off under a hen which left the nest so I wonder if it was delayed due to that also. opened it up afterwards and it looked good though hadn't finished absorbing yolk. If i had cleared its nostrils earlier it might have survived, or left it alone in the first place. Who knows. There is another little chick in the incubator this morning (from a batch 3 days after) so at least that went well. I'm up to 4 chicks from less than a dozen of my eggs. Which now outdoes the 3 chicks i've managed to hatch out of 31 eggs i've brought. Interestingly the 2 to die in shell were pure silkies, the 4 that have hatched are from the same silkie roosters but with barnevelder or pekin (bantam cochin) mothers.

Congrads on your 3 chickes. Last year I had 2 ducks "sister" sharing the same nest brooding and because of the heat and sun hitting them decided to put the eggs in the battor. 6 out of 9 hatched but it took 6 days for all to hatch out of the 3 I lost one was the first to pip the other 2 I think they just went in lock down to soon. You can never tell on a natural nest exactly how long the eggs have been set since they can start setting and still add 1 egg or 2.

 

[Willawong Hill]

Well my non-maternal pekin now has two chicks in with her and i think the mothering hormones have kicked in. So i've got one millifleur pekin (which is what i was trying to hatch) along with 2 silkies i brought day old to keep it company and 2 silkie x pekins from my eggs in the brooder, with 2 silkie x barnevelder chicks under mamma. Chicken math!

 

[JRies]

I bet next season youll be handling this all like a pro!!!! Great Math. So will your hens

 

[rachelsp]

I have 11 eggs in my incubator with 5 days to go until hatch. I also have a broody hen. Am I screwing up my chances of hatching by removing 6 of the eggs to put under my hen? My thought process is that it will increase the odds of having a good hatch vs the unknowns of the incubator. But I’m worried if the eggs under the hen will get enough humidity at hatch time seems how I’m putting them under her so close to hatching day.
Also do you think she will have problems accepting the chicks hatching under her after only 5 days instead of 21?

I know this was a while ago but how did you get on? I’m having the very same thoughts with my incubated eggs and a hen that’s just gone broody for the first time?