Strange situation (incubating feral chicken eggs)

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

And here is my daughter who spends a TON of time with them, so hopefully they will stay sweet! They like to snuggle next to her neck.

 

[lena_]

And here is my daughter who spends a TON of time with them, so hopefully they will stay sweet! They like to snuggle next to her neck.

Aw so sweet! I'm sure they will be very tame,

 

[eulogos]

Thank you for the reply! I'll try to update. I also have some very early eggs in the incubator from two of the other nests I found. There was no hen so I had no idea whether they'd be viable but I just candled them and found have tiny embryos with little eyes! They're wiggling. This is so fascinating.

By the way, all of these nests have been destroyed by maintenance crews since I gathered the eggs, so none of these chicks would have made it otherwise.

I hate hearing that they destroy nests, after I struggle to protect my broodies or hatch in the incubator. I suppose they regard the chickens as a nuisance? I’d love to see a place where chickens can perpetuate themselves and live independently.

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

Yes I suppose some do see them as a nuisance though I can't think why, other than the fact that the roosters are noisy. But they eat pests, even the dreaded centipedes we have here. People keep them sometimes for this reason alone.

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

I think I can help. The air cells look fine, that's how they should look. The embryos however look a bit small to me. Maybe you had a cool spot or something and they didn't develop as fast. Move the eggs to wherever those other eggs that hatched were laying. Without turning them, can you get some more candling pics? I would just eave them in for a while longer. At least 4 more days. I also think it's awesome that you took them in. Great job! Try to tame them down a lot, they'll probably be more wild since they're feral. Congrats on your babies, they are SO cute!

I took some more candling pics after the sun went down. And guess what? I saw a shadow in the air space for #3! And it looked like it was breathing. Whoo-hoo!

I also candled the others, #2, #4, and #7 and attached the pics here.

 

[MGG]

Thank you for the input. I rearranged the eggs in the incubator a few times so I am not sure if these were in different conditions on average or maybe at critical times. But I'll keep them in there longer and try to keep conditions optimal with high humidity and consistent temperature. It's getting dark here now so I'll try to get some better candling pics. I guess it's good to hear they may be a bit small, gives me hope they are just behind they others in development. Thanks again!

Sounds good! I'll get caught up here.

 

[MGG]

I took some more candling pics after the sun went down. And guess what? I saw a shadow in the air space for #3! And it looked like it was breathing. Whoo-hoo!

I also candled the others, #2, #4, and #7 and attached the pics here.

#3 looks very close to internal pipping. Whenever I see shadowing like that thy usually internally pip within a couple hours. Make sure you don't do any safety holes until about 36 hours after internal pip. It makes them hatch faster if they have to externally pip due to lack of oxygen. Whenever I make safety holes they take forever. All of your eggs look good. I would guess they were just on a cooler side or something. I would guess in 2 days they'll be hatching

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

#3 looks very close to internal pipping. Whenever I see shadowing like that thy usually internally pip within a couple hours. Make sure you don't do any safety holes until about 36 hours after internal pip. It makes them hatch faster if they have to externally pip due to lack of oxygen. Whenever I make safety holes they take forever. All of your eggs look good. I would guess they were just on a cooler side or something. I would guess in 2 days they'll be hatching

Thank you! I think I feel a little external pip today on #3!

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

Here's number 3!

 

[Hawaii Newbie 2020]

And here number 7! She hatched two nights ago, in the wee hours. She is a bit small, but hopefully healthy.