What to do?

[ExhaustedBrachiosaurus]

After much research and finally having enough land to have chickens, I started incubating 6 Aracuna eggs on October 5 that I purchased off a local person. I am now day 9. 4 of them did not develop past day 3; 1 looks to be developed to around day 5 with no movement and what I believe is a blood ring; the last one has a moving chick inside that delighted my children when we candled it.

Now, I am concerned that just the solo egg will hatch and I'll have a lonely chick. Do I just buy it a friend when it hatches? Or do I buy a second incubator and have chickens hatch about 10 days after that first chick? Or buy it a friend AND a second incubator + eggs?

A work colleague said to just chuck it out and try again, but I can't do that to a living thing.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[Yardmom]

Don't count your chickens before they hatch applies here. You need to figure out why the others died (most have some that do) and you need to get your survivor to being out of the shell.
Personally I would add more eggs to the current incubator, but only after double checking temperature in all spots of the incubator and if it is fine make sure there is not something else affecting the eggs. I would raise humidity only on hatch day for the first egg and then get it back down. To give the new eggs a reasonable humidity average

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

If that egg hatches I'd get it a minimum of two "buddies" about the same age. Chickens are social animals and do much better with other chickens. If there is much age difference you can get bullying. When you deal with living animals you sometimes have to deal with dead animals. If you only get one more chick and one dies you still have a lonely chick if you only get one more.

Why did you get such a horrible hatch rate? You used local eggs, not eggs shipped in the mail, UPS, or Fed-Ex. Did those eggs get shaken up badly during transport? Were they exposed to extreme heat or cold? How old were the eggs, a couple of weeks?

Were the eggs "dirty" or had they been washed? If they were fertilized and started developing there is a reason they died so early in incubation. That probably has something to do with how they were handled before they went in the incubator. One of the possible causes of the blood ring (there can be other causes) is that bacteria got inside from dirty eggs, washed eggs, or handling them with dirty hands.

I'd confirm the actual temperature of your incubator. Factory presets are often wrong so you might need to confirm yours are correct.

Personally I would not start any more eggs. The 10 day age difference could be enough to cause bullying or worse. That would also mean a staggered hatch (eggs hatch at significantly different times) which greatly complicates hatching. Not just from adjusting humidity and when to turn them but hatching can be a dirty messy time. The old egg hatching could get the new eggs and the incubator dirty. Not a good thing.

After this hatch is over you can start a totally new hatch with fresh eggs if you wish. Assuming that one egg hatches you will have to plan how you will integrate any new chicks with that chick and its buddies. We do it all of the time but you may need to study up on that. It takes more facilities. And as you know, you do not know how many chicks will hatch when you set eggs.

Good luck and once again

 

[ExhaustedBrachiosaurus]

Thanks for your wisdom. I have a separate temperature and humidity gauge that has been in the incubator and have been using that instead of the factory presets. The eggs were handled by me, though I cannot be certain that my 5yo didn't manhandle them while setting up to put them in the incubator. I didn't wash the eggs, though they are very clean and no idea how old they were. We have had extremely hot weather here (Australia) around 33⁰C (in the 90sF) for the past week, though the incubator is in a more central part of the home that doesn't fluctuate much. I've attached a picture of what 4 of the eggs look like. Being blue shelled, I found it hard in the beginning to candle them, but have found it easier as I go.

I'm not entirely certain of the blood ring, but it has thick bright red blood banding on part of the egg that seems to go around the perimeter lightly. Also could not see the chick moving last night. I'll try to snap some pictures tonight.

Thanks again for your help. -EB