Should I have done this?

[bantamweight21]

My hen has been on 13 eggs for 6 days and all but one seem to been no chick. I cracked open the other 12 and they were fertille. Did I done the right thing or should I lefft theme alone. The mama wontt have but one baby

 

[suki'smom]

Probably should have stopped after the first one.

 

[OperationHatch]

i definitely would've stopped after the first fertile one. The chances of a 100% hatch when only 1 egg is involved is pretty low I would assume.

Sometimes, 6 days isn't enough time to determine fertility, especially if they are tinted eggs. I candled after day 7, and now 10, but won't toss any (unless there are cracks or significant evidence that they are infertile) until day 14.

Why did you keep going after you saw one (or even several) fertile eggs?

 

[bantamweight21]

I just dont understand. They werent developing or.something. But the eggs.I left alone is developing . I have never had such a problem

 

[OperationHatch]

Oh, i think I understand. When you cracked them open, you saw a bullseye meaning that they were initially fertile, but there was no embryo growth (veins). So when you cracked them open at day 6 you saw no veins meaning there was no devleopment. I read it initially that you cracked open one thinking it wasn't growing but you were wrong, and moved on to the next one and so on.

BUT i think i am understanding now.

How long ago did you hen and cock mate? could it be that they were fertile but not yet strong enough to be viable? I don't know much about the mating process, only that it take times after fertilization for the eggs to be strong enough to develop.

 

[bantamweight21]

He mated with her two days before she went broody also she is the only hen he mates with

 

[bantamweight21]

The one egg looks good though. I can see the embryo moving and the veins

 

[OperationHatch]

It could be that the egg was technically fertilized but not yet strong enough to become a viable embryo. My terminology could be way off, but I know that it can take a while after mating to get eggs that can develop and hatch successfully.

 

[dl9976]

I wouldnt let just 1 chick hatch...their needs to be at least 2...yeah, I would have stopped cracking them open.

 

[tadpole98]

I have had a chicken hatch out just one chick. another one when broody after her and hatched out one. then oen more went broody and hatched out one. all three did just fine