Update******May 9th (tentative) hatch date." 4 weeks later....a chick

[ReiMiraa]

so i had 2 hens go broody at around the same time. friday 16 and saturday 17. up till yesterday i added eggs to the hen that started on the 16 (she had mostly golfballs) and i added one more egg today to the one that started saturday.
the one that started april 16 is a light brahma with 11 eggs
and i forgot how many the bantm silky/pheonix has.... it started on the 17 and i just stopped adding eggs to it today.

so this morning the light brahma is down to 10 eggs because one broke (thin shell?) so the poor hens white feathers are yellow and i tried to scrape some of the dried yolk off the eggs.... hopefully they will continue as if nothing happened to their sibbling........

i candled them today and you can see a little of the yolk developing in most of the eggs, but not the ones i recently added.

so i am excited this is my first hatch..... and i don't have to do anything...

i do deliver scratch and fresh alfalfa leaves to the hens daily....

surprisingly these are nice hens. they dont attack your hand.
i will post the next update.

if anyone has advice please let me know.

update on page 3*********

 

[cashdl]

No advice, I am right there with you. I had something like 5 dozen eggs in my homemade incubator, cause I kept finding room and the hens kept laying. Fortunately 3 hens have been kind enough to go broody. The first in a really sweet little grey hen who let me take her out of the nest box and move her to a cold frame in my green house. ( only thing I could think of on the spur of the moment and she doesn't care where she is as long as she has eggs under her). So I put a dozen under her that were started in the incubator on 4-5-2010, then I have a vicious hen that went broody and I moved her in the dark of night to a box I had made and stuffed a dozen eggs under her that I had started in the incubator on 4-9-2010. So far she is a happy camper as long as I keep my hands out of her cage. She is like a cobra, soo quick. The last hen so far is proving to be the hardest. I have moved her every night to a box I made and move the eggs with her. In the morning she has pooped on the eggs and isn't sitting on them.

Fortunately they are the eggs the hens have laid each day, so no great loss. Tonight as soon as she pooped on the eggs I cleaned them and the bedding and the darned thing sat right down on the eggs and went to sleep, so I swithched out the eggs for ones started on 4-18-2010. Still have 2 dozen in the incubator with 2 more sitting next to it ready to go in. I should get at least a couple of chicks out of all of this.

Lanae

 

[ReiMiraa]

so i candled the other day and discoverd that it is hard to get light through the green shelled or dark brown eggs...... my broody brahma is still laying eggs occasionally but she is still sitting... i remove the new eggs. i finally got smart and marked them.... so only 2 new eggs added this week because i didn't know what color she laid....

i will have to move the banty/silky broody into a separate pen so when they hatch they wont be killed by the rest of the flock..... SHE choose to brood under the roost.... droppings galor... atleast the chicks might have a headstart on their immune system....

so far i think most of them are fertile.... i will check tomorrow night. at what point will i know what eggs are quitters? i mean there are eggs added over the period of a few days...... did i screw up?

 

[Illia]

Good luck, I've got some VERY expensive eggs due on the 10th of May.

As for green, brown, and really dark brown eggs. . . If you can't tell, look for a dark mass and a very showy aircell for fertility. The day to look for definite quitters is anywhere from day 10 to day 14 - If they aren't super dark or anything, they're quitters.

Otherwise, I think the rest is okay. (except the poop valley broody spot. . . . Best you try and move her.)

 

[ReiMiraa]

do you think it was wrong to add eggs under the broody over the period of a few days? i was putting fresh eggs from specific hens that i am curios of the cross's.
she started with golf balls.....
do the eggs sorta play catch up? is the hen patient to wait a day or two?

 

[Illia]

The eggs won't play catch up, no.

A day off is fine, two days off may be okay - Three days off I don't know under a broody. Under an incubator it can get risky, but under a hen it may be okay. I have yet to hatch under broodies.

 

[ReiMiraa]

well i have two broody hens going. one started a day sooner one the brahma is friday and the bantm is saturday ( a week ago) maybe later when i candle i will switch the eggs from one hen to the other depending on the development....

think that would be a good game plan?
cos i cant afford an incubator. i got luck having 2 broodya... morel ucky at the same time.


what are the reasons for it being bad under an incubator?

 

[Illia]

Under an incubator, the eggs at 3 days behind in development will still need to be turned but cannot - Also, the chicks will start dirtying up the developing eggs and walking all over them.

I think moving the newer eggs to another broody when the time comes (3 days prior to hatching) should help.

 

[ReiMiraa]

i hope i will be able to....

i know there are 2 eggs under the brahma that will probably be killed since she laid them wed and thur....
and tuesday one of the millies laid an egg so i had to put it under the bantm.....

i only get to really check on them 2x a day. afternoon and night (i let and water and feedsome and chicks in the morning but only 5 minutes, the later in the dat i have more time to comitt)

college student....

 

[ReiMiraa]

what would be a good emergency plan c if b fails?

plan a: they all hatch happily ever after
plan b: i move the more progressed eggs to on hen and the lesser to the other
plan c: ? _____insert next big idea here_____