• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

Will any more eggs hatch?

 
Posts: 10
2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
We had a hen go broody and got her some fertilized eggs to set on.  At one point during the process she changed boxes and sat on some new eggs from the other laying hens.  We moved her back to her eggs that night and she stayed put.  We had two chicks hatch Friday from the clutch of eggs and moved her and the chicks and eggs to a new box in a small enclosure.  She still has 5 unhatched eggs, but is spending more time showing the new chicks how to go about getting food and such.  She still goes back to the eggs and sits on them for the majority of her time.  Any chance more will hatch out or should we get rid of them and let her focus on her new chicks?
 
Posts: 80
Location: Kentucky, USA
98
writing
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Candle the eggs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB8n0OiA-eE  <-- a how-to video.

By shining a light through the shell, you can see if the eggs have a growing chick in it, or if the chick self-aborted at some point in development, or if that egg didn't get fertilized.
 
master steward
Posts: 12490
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
7044
duck books chicken cooking food preservation ungarbage
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Dave, how many chicks does she have? Just the two you mention, or did more hatch? If it's been 2 days since the last chick hatched, I'd absolutely remove the rest. You could candle them as you go (pretty much any flashlight will do), and check for pipping (a peck in the shell from the inside out), and smell for "rotten", because there's no law saying you can't change your mind, but a first time chicken mom sometimes had difficulty giving up on the duds, and you do want her paying attention to and looking after the live chicks.

Chickens, and even more so, Muscovy ducks, seem to be pre-programmed for "this number of chicks/ducklings is enough". If they have a really poor hatch, the transition is harder, and I've often had moms with single ducks hatch pretty much refuse to give up.
 
Dave Roades
Posts: 10
2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
One of the two chicks was found dead in the box yesterday so we are down to one chick.  Mom has essentially stopped sitting on the unhatched ones and is devoting her time to showing the remaining chick how to be a chicken.  We have removed the remaining eggs at this point for disposal.  Looked yesterday for any available newly hatched chick locally to try and sneak a couple more in for her, but no luck.  
 
Jay Angler
master steward
Posts: 12490
Location: Pacific Wet Coast
7044
duck books chicken cooking food preservation ungarbage
  • Likes 1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I think those are all good moves, Dave, particularly thinking to check locally for a few "extras" for your hen.

For future reference, I always try to put broodies in "lockdown" so the problem like the shifted nest can't happen. For a chicken, you need space for feed, water, space out of the "nest" to poop in, and sufficient climate control that the eggs won't die from heat.  It can be as simple as a free dog crate - although I find a wooden box better for controlling heat and humidity.  It is important to be sure that newly hatched chicks have no way out - so mesh areas should be 1/4" hardware cloth for ventilation and for you to see in enough to check on things without disturbing mom too much.
 
We are the Knights of NEE! And we demand a tiny ad!
Freaky Cheap Heat - 2 hour movie - HD streaming
https://permies.com/wiki/238453/Freaky-Cheap-Heat-hour-movie
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic