Hi Everybody, Well this was my first time with a Broody hen. YES I do have roosters...She had 9 eggs under her, I did remove 3 after candling. The remaining 6 looked real good! Well today is day 30, sigh... no little Chickie's no pips nothing. I just brought 2 of the eggs in and candled them again. There is a clear area and the dark opaque area still visible, it's hard to see any veins as the eggs are brown. The 6 remaining eggs have no smell at all (other than hot chicken) Lol... Wouldn't dead eggs have a smell to them. I did have one egg explode under my broody about 1 1/2 weeks ago, I did remove all the soiled nesting material, and sent her out for a dust bath. Only one of the 6 eggs had goo on it. I didn't try and remove it. I know that there is some controversy about exploding eggs causing the rest of the hatch to spoil, do you think this is what may have happened???? Very sad, my hen still won't get off her nest. What am I supposed to do with her? I feel bad just taking her eggs away that she has worked so hard for. Any help regarding WHY these eggs didn't hatch would help me a 1st hatch failure. Thank-you in advance! Megan
I have a cheeky rooster that's going to meet the business end of a hatchet for ruining my broody hatches. He runs them off their nests so he can "dance and woo" them, all the while they're mad and huffed up but not able to consistantly sit their eggs! I'm pretty sure he's doing it all day long. Not saying that's your problem, but it's something to look/watch for. It is possible the egg explosion soured yours. I'd take the eggs away and let her start a new on fresh ones. If you candled and haven't seen any movement, they're probably gonners... The next best thing to do is open one up so you can see if they're malformed or surrounded by green goop (bacterial invasion).
