unhatched eggs

[lala72]

Hi all
I am a new user and not familiar with forum usage! but I have many questions and worries about my lovely chickens and their sitting habits and dilemma's.
My polish hens have been sharing a clutch of eggs for about 4 weeks, 1 hatched and I separated the hen and chick and left the other on the remainder of the eggs, two were addled then she hatched one and let it go cold, it died over night...I was gutted...and puzzled at why this may have happened?? we candled the others but they are all at different stages and having left them too it, my mistake was to let them both share the clutch and sit whilst still laying...she has been sitting for about 24 days now...trying to work out when the others should hatch, one a day for 6 days?! would be the logic. but that is not quite the case at the moment which is why I pose the questions! I am not sure if the eggs with dark masses and an air sac are still alive, I have listened to them and no pipping, the eggs have an odd greenish tinge at the air sac end, through the torch light but no smell!!! is this normal?? and do I let her go on sitting or buy her some day old,s to sneak under her at night so she does not morn. will she reject them?

would really appreciate any advice and wisdom for happy healthy chooks and chicks..

bright blessings and many thanks
Laura

 

[sourland]

I have always had bad luck when hens shared a common nest for brooding - I just don't let it happen anymore. The % hatch rate is just too low. Also I isolate broody hens so that others can not add eggs to the clutch. I would suggest taking the eggs with dark masses and visible air sac, float them in warm water - if there is movement they are viable. If not, they are probably no good. Good luck at salvaging something , but if you are unsuccessful, you might slip some day olds under her during the night. Good luck.

 

[shardean]

Wow I was having the same issue..one started sitting then other hens kept laying in the nest she was sitting! Then another hen started sitting with her! After about 6 days of this I moved both to another coop and set up a nest in a doghouse. There were 24 eggs under them. I let them keep 18 (put 6 in my bator) I calculated fro the first day I saw her sitting. Thought they would hatch last week. Well they are hatching now! So I was off some how. I had put 6 eggs under her from my polish crested the 2nd night she was sitting, and one of the chicks I saw was a crested one. not sure how many have hatched and if more still will. The 2 I saw (might even be more) must have hatched in the last 24 hours! Didn't see any yesterday! And so far none in my bator have hatched! but i'm now afraid to toss the eggs...maybe they will hatch since the others are! So hang in there.

 

[alxw]

I have an Old English game hen that hatched out a clutch of ten. My neighbor brought me a bitty and I thought i could sneak it under her in the night and that she would accept the new baby. Negative. I woke up very early to see how she would react before she left the house, and as soon as she started walking around she knew and tried to kill the bitty. Thankfully i was there to save it. My hen was not fooled and I don't think i will try sneaking new babies under any hen ever again. The new babies chirps sound very different from their own hatched babies and I think that was the dead give away to her knowing that wasn't one of her babies. Keep posted on if your hen accepts the bittys! I have a problem now where the first day i saw her laying she had three eggs. I left on vacation to find her sitting on over twenty. I candled them and took out the ones that weren't fertile. So now she has around twelve. I had one cute baby hatch today and idk how far apart the rest of the eggs are or if they are even alive since they probably got rotated out from underneath her when she still had 20+ eggs. I don't know how long to wait and she wont let me take the baby from her to feed and water it and i dont think she will come off the nest to show it. Good luck hatching some babies i prefer the hens vs. the incubators the babies are always so much smarter.

 

[shardean]

OK I had 2 hens co sitting 18 eggs that I thought would hatch last week. I wrote earlier about having a couple hatch in the last 24 hours, well late this afternoon the hens brought the chicks out of the nest and there are 8! I'm so excited! The hens were out for a while so don't know if any others will hatch! 8 is good..wasn't doing chicks this year, but have had 3 hens go broody...so now I have chicks this year! And I have had people tell me they put store bought chicks under their hens and the hen did accept them!

 

[chickydee64]

OK I had 2 hens co sitting 18 eggs that I thought would hatch last week. I wrote earlier about having a couple hatch in the last 24 hours, well late this afternoon the hens brought the chicks out of the nest and there are 8! I'm so excited! The hens were out for a while so don't know if any others will hatch! 8 is good..wasn't doing chicks this year, but have had 3 hens go broody...so now I have chicks this year! And I have had people tell me they put store bought chicks under their hens and the hen did accept them!

HI, For future reference. mark the eggs you find them sitting on and pick the rest up as they lay..