Urgent advice on hen incubated egg

[ChurchHouse Chicks]

Hi we have hatched 4 out of 5 bantam eggs under a broody hen. The first hatched day 21, eggs 2 and 3 on day 22 and a fourth egg hatched on day 23 leaving egg number 5 under the hen (who has not moved, bless her). We refreshed bedding when the 4 had hatched by quickly lifting her to the other end of the nest and replaced the final egg under her with her chicks and the chicks are doing grand but the 5th egg didn’t feel very warm at this point so planned to check today and remove if no action.

This morning that egg was again cool to the touch and being slightly pushed out from under her so have brought in to candle and presumed discard as unlikely to hatch and didn’t want it rotting and creating a Bio hazard for the hatched chicks. Anyway, there’s movement in the egg but no internal or external pips. I have placed in damp towel in a dish on our aga the temp was at 20 degrees C and now up to 30 degrees C. Am firing up the incubator as I speak.
What is the best thing I can do at this juncture please? Also, if we do manage to hatch, what would be the best way of reintroducing to mama hen?
Thank you!

 

[Rose Quartz]

Hi we have hatched 4 out of 5 bantam eggs under a broody hen. The first hatched day 21, eggs 2 and 3 on day 22 and a fourth egg hatched on day 23 leaving egg number 5 under the hen (who has not moved, bless her). We refreshed bedding when the 4 had hatched by quickly lifting her to the other end of the nest and replaced the final egg under her with her chicks and the chicks are doing grand but the 5th egg didn’t feel very warm at this point so planned to check today and remove if no action.

This morning that egg was again cool to the touch and being slightly pushed out from under her so have brought in to candle and presumed discard as unlikely to hatch and didn’t want it rotting and creating a Bio hazard for the hatched chicks. Anyway, there’s movement in the egg but no internal or external pips. I have placed in damp towel in a dish on our aga the temp was at 20 degrees C and now up to 30 degrees C. Am firing up the incubator as I speak.
What is the best thing I can do at this juncture please? Also, if we do manage to hatch, what would be the best way of reintroducing to mama hen?
Thank you!

The damp towel will chill it. I'd take it out of that right away. Maybe give it a safety hole in the aircell and put it directly into the incu.

Once it's hatched pop it under her belly with the others.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

I agree with the damp towel potentially cooling it. However I would say do not make a hole in the shell unless you can see that the chick has internally popped. Since you said it hasn't yet, leave the egg intact somewhere warm ideally, and get it in the incubator ASAP.

Can you tell by candling if it looks almost ready to hatch or if it was perhaps an egg 'added' later to the clutch? Sometimes the hen sitting will still lay a late egg after starting to brood, or another hen will lay an egg in there. This could explain why it is late to hatch. Otherwise it could just be that it has been cooled repeatedly and has gotten behind.

I recently had a late egg from a broody and it hatched three days later in the incubator without any problem, so I have hopes your your last egg. When introducing the new chick if it hatches, just carefully put it under the hen in a quiet moment while she is sitting on the other chicks and watch for a little while. The hen should have no problem accepting the new chick and the new chick will naturally want to do what the other chicks do and stick with the mother.

I recommend keeping the new chick, if all goes well, in the incubator until it is 100% dry and up and about in its feet/very active, before returning to the hen. The other chicks will be a bit more active so a still weak and sleepy newborn chick could struggle.

 

[Rose Quartz]

Oh, I missed that. Sorry I've been up all night. Keeper is right, don't make a safety hole.

 

[ChurchHouse Chicks]

Thank you both.
I’ve got the incubator up and running and although ideally it would run empty for 24 hours to avoid temperature fluctuations, I’ve put the egg in as it’s got to be better than on top of the Aga.
I haven’t made an air hole on the basis that the oxygen shortage triggers the pipping and so if this was an egg that was laid later, then that might be a bit premature. I think on the basis of 1st egg hatching day 21 I could assume that each of the other eggs was laid one day later if they are all hers so could be up to 5 days later than the first? That would make hatch day tomorrow for this one although it could be our other hen’s egg potentially. So many variables! I’ll candle tomorrow and make a decision on making a hole. If by Monday nothing has happened then I might break away the air cell end and see how things look inside. Maybe. I’m really reluctant to majorly assist hatch as I’ve done so before and regretted it with artificially incubated eggs.
Thanks once again!
I’ve attached pics of the ones that have

hatched.

 

[Keeperofmunchkins]

Good luck. I hope the last little one makes it.
Regarding assisting, there is nothing that can be done if the chick doesn't internally pip. So I would do a visual check of the shell for external pips once a day, and if there are no external pips quickly candle the egg to see if there is an internal pip. I've never had anything go awry by gently moving the egg to candle at the end of incubation as long as there is no external pip. A few hours to a day before an internal pip the air cell 'draws down', becoming larger and more lopsided.

It could well be that this egg was laid significantly later than the other eggs and just needs time to catch up.