Staggered hatch

[EmiliaJosefina]

My silkie hen has four eggs all set on the same day. However, one chick hatched on day 18, another on day 19, one on day 20 (today) and the last one looks like it may hatch this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Since the eggs were all set on the same day, I am baffled as to why this may be happening. I put food and water in the nest with the mother and babies and she shows no signs of wanting to get up yet, but I'd like to avoid similar situations in the future if possible.

Does anyone have any idea why this might have happened?

 

[Pork Pie]

Sorry, i've never had that experience. Mine usually hatch within a 24 hour window of each other.

CT

 

[allyclair]

I use an incubator to hatch, but have had my chicks hatch on 3 consecutive days when all were started the exact same time.

 

[EmiliaJosefina]

That's good to hear. It's getting dark here now, and my fourth and last chick seems to be on course to hatch sometime tonight or on the morning of its "hatch day." The mother doesn't seem concerned and is still on the egg with her babies (the 3 day old is huge compared to the one that hatched today!) and I'm sure she'll stay until the egg hatches, now that it's bedtime.

I had 11 eggs from the same pair that hatched about a week and a half ago, and they all hatched within 18 hours of each other. The only thing I can think of was that the eggs from the other hatch were stored in the crisper drawer of my refrigerator and these were stored at room temperature and may have started developing before I put them under the hen (room temperature here is often 80+ degrees, unfortunately.)