When setting eggs under a broody...

[TheChicken-nator]

I’ve been away from this thread for a while, mainly because I got ducklings and one of them was sickly, requiring my constant attention for four days until she passed.

Anyway, Mrs. Biggles has continued to be a trooper sitting on her eggs. I candled them for the first time last night. Four of them looked good for 14 days into incubation. Two (a dark and a blue egg) I really couldn’t tell.

Back on 3/31, 7 days into incubation, I checked on the broody and noticed one of the eggs had broken. While she was out and about I cleaned the nest and took the cracked one out. I immediately saw a baby chick in all the mess and, if you know me, I had to look at it and pillage around through the remains.

I saw it right away, along with the veins, and what I believe is an eyeball.

Laying there in the mess, I can only describe what I saw at first as a tiny shrimp looking thing. You know, kind of translucent with veins visible.

The embryo is right in the middle of the picture (curled up and laying on its left side.) You can see the right leg. And what I’m calling the eye is the black orb on the bottom left. The string stuff is just hay that was stuck to the mess.View attachment 2080025

I thought this shot was neat because it showed the ever important vein network that the chick must absorb prior to hatching.
ETA: clarify that it’s just the blood in the veins that is absorbed.View attachment 2080026

It was very difficult to get the little thing stretched out to see the body. It just kept tearing apart. The blob to the right came from the head area. If you zoom in, the feet appear like frog feet to me, but clearly show what will be the toes. I couldn’t get a picture of the wing, but the segments were clearly defined with the correct bend.
View attachment 2080027

This shot was the underside of the embryo.
View attachment 2080028

These next two pics are of the suspected eye. I know it’s huge in comparison to the body, but I still think that’s correct. Right in the middle of the orb is a clear circle, which I believe is the pupil. It can be seen better on my finger.
View attachment 2080030View attachment 2080029

I did place several limbs and the ‘eye’ under the microscope to get a better look. The circular thing in the eye looked like a lens under magnification.

This is all very interesting to me...and probably only me. But I hope some find it interesting as well!

Thank you for showing this, it will really help me next time on of the eggs break

 

[Mimi13]

Thank you for showing this, it will really help me next time on of the eggs break

No, no, you don’t ever want that to happen.

 

[Mimi13]

Thanks! One more question, how do I upload the video to youtube? Lol sorry. Also, is that safe and everything?

I think you need to create a YouTube account first. Not certain, but I think.

I do everything on my phone so it’s possible it’s different on the computer.

When you pull up YouTube there should be a ‘movie camera icon’ at the top. Click it. Your next page should look like this at the top and all your videos thumbnailed below.

Now, click on the video you want to upload. It will play and this is the time to ‘trim’ it if need be.

Then click NEXT in the upper right hand corner.
Now you will add the ‘details’ such as Title and Description.
Lastly, click UPLOAD in the upper right corner.

Now, if you’re as lucky as me, you wait, and wait, and wait. I do not like to upload anything over 30-40 seconds, tops is one minute. This is the part I hate. But maybe it’s just mine that’s so slow.

I click on my name to see all my videos. To the right of each one are three little dots. Click the dots, then click SHARE, then COPY.

Return to BYC. At the top of your post click the LINK button (looks like two links of chain.) The cursor will be on the URL window. Touch the spot and PASTE will appear. Click it and the link to the video will appear. Then click INSERT and your video will appear as a link only. You can click Preview (beside Post Reply) and see the video as it will appear in your post once you Post Reply.

There! Now how confusing is that.

 

[cmom]

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[humblehillsfarm]

Aw poor little guy. It's sad that it happened, but it was very cool to see what was really going on inside the egg. I have some under a hen and I've been a nervous wreck about the whole thing. I hope it all turns out well. Already one was cracked and eaten by another hen and in the process another egg was also cracked so there are only four left. I desperately hope that doesn't happen again. I tried to move her but she rejected the nest.

 

[Mimi13]

Easter Sunday we had terrible storms here in Central Alabama, but that did not stop three little chicks from hatching.

Here is what we have...so far. All are black with white markings. These all are from Rusty, my Welsummer/Barred Rock roo.

1st - BCM hen - has a couple tiny feathers on legs.
2nd - Buckeye hen - looks very much like the first chick, without the leg feathers.
3rd - Welsummer hen - Black with a white spot on head. Most likely a little cockerel, I guess.

Mrs. Biggles has done a wonderful job. She is a no nonsense kind of chicken. I never guessed her to go broody.

Let me tell y’all able my huge gamble though.

The original clutch consisted of 7 eggs: (top left, clockwise) GLW, Welsummer, Buckeye, 2 CLB, Unknown light brown, BCM.

The GLW was cracked underneath the broody and the UNK egg was removed due to infertility. The remaining five looked good, but I was curious about the two CLB eggs. As of Tuesday these two had not hatched (4/15 was Day 21), but I was uncertain enough about their viability that I could not toss them. Sooooooo, I pulled them from her so she could begin to mill around with the other three chicks and placed them underneath my black Ameraucana broody, giving her 10. My thought was (right, wrong or indifferent) if they hatched within the next few days (today is Day 22) I would sneak them underneath their original broody, Mrs. Biggles. Doable? I hope! We’ll see!

I have not been up to check them yet, I have been visiting my little ducklings, but I’m about to go check them out.

Wish me the best of odds on this please.

 

[Mimi13]

I brought Gabriela, my broody, in and took a good look at the eggs again. Lord help. I will say, some people say NOT to candle, that there’s no need, but I know candling was very helpful to me when I did it regularly with my first broody. I marked the changes in the air sacs and made notes, which helped tremendously. I was able to quickly detect which ones were not developing.

I wound up pulling the two CLB eggs and then two more that I suspected to be duds and boy am I glad I did!

The first two I checked were two that Gabriela had from the get go. Both yolks were still intact, but very, very flattened.

Then came the two CLB eggs. The first egg’s yolk was broken and had some runny to it, but also had a darker, hardened, gelatinous area as well.

Then the 2nd CLB egg was, well, I don’t know! The entire color was a light creamy yellow, but then had chunks of cooked-looking eggs. This last egg is the one that really had me puzzled as I could see a complete darkness in the egg and then also some “shape” that would appear along the yolk/air sac line. My final determining factor to pull the eggs was that the insides seemed too “slushy” to be viable. None of the eggs had any odor, thank the Lord! I’m glad I removed them before one developed.

 

[Mimi13]

What are the odds of 7 out of 9 hatching chicks being male? My odds! Yep, last time I had 7 out of 11 male. I think I’m gonna quit hatching chicks.

I am almost certain that is the case. Two broodies, one hatching 3 and the other hatching 6. The rooster is a Welsummer over a Barred Plymouth Rock. If what I’ve read and remember is correct, a chick with Barred blood will produce a spot on its head if male. Please correct me if I’m wrong. At this point I’d be very tickled to be wrong.

Mrs. Biggles (Naked Neck):

• hatched 3, one bearing a white dot
• all are primarily black w/white
• two from BCM, both with feathered legs
• one from a Welsummer

Gabriela (Black Ameraucana):

• hatched 6, and I do believe all 6 have a white dot
• three from BCM, all with feathered legs
• one from a Welsummer
• the four above are primarily black w/white
• one is yellow w/golden chipmunk stripes, from the unknown brown egg layer
• one is brown w/classic chipmunk stripes, from the Partridge Olive Egger

This is the unknown brown egg. I believe it’s too dark for my Orpingtons. I do have a Partridge Barnevelder that lays a decent brown egg like this one. In the right light you can see the white spot in all that yellow.

This is the baby from the Partridge Olive Egger. You can see the tiny white spot on its head.

This is the Welsummer chick.

I only posted this one picture of the feathered legs.
.

You can see all the white dots on the dark chicks.

A penny for y’all’s thoughts.

 

[duluthralphie]

What are the odds of 7 out of 9 hatching chicks being male? My odds! Yep, last time I had 7 out of 11 male. I think I’m gonna quit hatching chicks.

I am almost certain that is the case. Two broodies, one hatching 3 and the other hatching 6. The rooster is a Welsummer over a Barred Plymouth Rock. If what I’ve read and remember is correct, a chick with Barred blood will produce a spot on its head if male. Please correct me if I’m wrong. At this point I’d be very tickled to be wrong.

Mrs. Biggles (Naked Neck):

• hatched 3, one bearing a white dot
• all are primarily black w/white
• two from BCM, both with feathered legs
• one from a Welsummer

View attachment 2117824
View attachment 2117820View attachment 2117823View attachment 2117790View attachment 2117782View attachment 2117791


Gabriela (Black Ameraucana):

• hatched 6, and I do believe all 6 have a white dot
• three from BCM, all with feathered legs
• one from a Welsummer
• the four above are primarily black w/white
• one is yellow w/golden chipmunk stripes, from the unknown brown egg layer
• one is brown w/classic chipmunk stripes, from the Partridge Olive Egger

View attachment 2117799
This is the unknown brown egg. I believe it’s too dark for my Orpingtons. I do have a Partridge Barnevelder that lays a decent brown egg like this one. In the right light you can see the white spot in all that yellow.
View attachment 2117862
View attachment 2117800View attachment 2117802
This is the baby from the Partridge Olive Egger. You can see the tiny white spot on its head.View attachment 2117861View attachment 2117804View attachment 2117803
This is the Welsummer chick.View attachment 2117863
I only posted this one picture of the feathered legs.
.View attachment 2117805View attachment 2117806
You can see all the white dots on the dark chicks. View attachment 2117809

A penny for y’all’s thoughts.

They sure look pretty, sweet and luvable compared to most the photos you post..

When can I expect the penny?

 

[Mimi13]

They sure look pretty, sweet and luvable compared to most the photos you post..

When can I expect the penny?

Here ya go! I’ll give you my 2 cents!

Oh, and thank you!

Can I ship all these to you?