Urgent! Please help decide: set eggs now or wait??

[CAranchgirl]

That is a tough call! However, if you said that the eggs you already have were collected Monday, that means by Tuesday when the other eggs arrive it would 8 or 9 days? I had the same problem...we had several hens killed in a dog attack and wanted to hatch eggs from the hens lost but didn' t have a broody. (or incubator)

Nine days after the attack, we had a broody girl! I put 12 eggs that were 9 and 10 days old under a broody hen. I had 10 out of the 12 eggs hatch, which is pretty good. So from my experience I think you could wait if you wanted to try it. I also turned the eggs every day onto the opposite side, sometimes twice a day, and I think this helped.

Good luck with whatever you decide!!

 

[dun chick]

Call your county extension agency. Sometimes they can loan you an incubator.

 

[SeaChick]

Well, the person who sent the Blue Orps said to just set the others under her tonight and then set the Blue Orps when they arrive. So we put the others under her. I hope this was the right thing to do!

She was very cute and settled right over them when we put them under her.

I am nervous though. Please give us more feedback about this. The Blue Orp person said, "Naturally hens lay over several days so not all eggs are developing at the same time. They should be fine."..... which makes sense..... but I thought I had read that they needed to all go under at the same time.

If the Blue Orp eggs arrive Monday (best case scenario if they were mailed today from GA to ME) then there will be a nearly 3-day difference.

I am so bummed because we were so careful to arrange for them all to be sent at the same time, to avoid something like this! It makes me sad. I hope it will turn out OK, especially for Olivia's sake....

Thanks.

 

[adrian]

Well, on the bright side, hens do often have eggs hatch quite a few days apart... Some people will set two different species under a hen, like duck and chicken, and the broody will set until the ducklings hatch 7 days later. So there is hope. Especially since it's only a few days different.

However, be ready to interfere later on. Just as a precaution.

 

[IggiMom]

I had some Show girl/Silkie eggs and I managed to miss an egg in the box.

My Egg Sniffing Dog came wandering in one day and indicated that I had missed one.

It had just sat there at room temp for two extra days, and so of course I put it in the incubator along with the others, and it is moving and doing just as well as the others.

Gosh, I would not want to waste those Orpington eggs.

I would be inclined to wait. But this is just a guess and it is frustrating and I am NOT an expert.

Catherine

 

[CAranchgirl]

I think there is a good chance that the Blue Orp eggs could possibly hatch if you have a good broody hen. When the babies first hatch, the mother hen usually continues to sit as if she is still brooding, and she will often continue on the rest of the eggs for a few days.

We have had a baby hatch 2 or 3 days later than everyone else, so don't give up hope. Sometimes when there are dud eggs that aren't going to hatch our hens will keep sitting several days after and the chicks that did hatch are out and running around by her, and I have to take the dud eggs to encourage her to get up and stop brooding! So you guys should keep your fingers crossed! It could still work out! Best of luck

 

[SeaChick]

Thank you, folks!! I guess the plan is to give her the Blue Orp eggs when they arrive, and just hope for the best. At some later point we'll decide whether our intervention would be to take out the first-hatched chicks (to a brooder for a couple days) or to try to find an incubator for the last-set ones IF she gets up after the first chicks hatch.

Thanks for all your advice!