the chicks are arriving..help!

[dhansen]

Here's an update.....
My momma hen has been sitting on many eggs from all the other chickens. Unfortunately, we did not mark them early on and a few more were laid during the first few weeks of incubation. 4 chicks have hatched,

but one died within a few hours.

The momma continues to sit on the remaining eggs. When and if she gets up before the others hatch, we were thinking of putting them in the incubator. Like I said we don't know dates, so I'm not sure we can figure out when to stop turning them. I figure they will die anyway if she leaves the nest, so it might be worth a shot. Anyone else done such a thing? Any help would be great!

 

[sara]

I always throw the ones in the incubator that are left after the hen gets off the nest. They usually hatch within a day or two, then i slip them under the hen. Hope that helps!

 

[marie_martin]

I am not sure how much help I will be but I have heard of eggs hatching in a bator with the automatic turner still going. So even ifyou turn them until hatch time, I think it could still be ok. It is worth a try anyway. You may try candling them when you move them to the bator and comparing them to the candling pics on BYC to see if you can tell what stage they are close to?? Good luck and keep us posted.

Marie