[ScotsGirl]

My broody has been sat on eggs and they started to hatch Friday, Saturday. She then started moving off the eggs although some were chipping, because the active chicks were moving around.


I managed to put the chipping eggs under hen and they have hatched but three eggs left are going cold cos she has been off them this morning. One I am sure was cheeping this morning but lunchtime I couldn't hear it and eggs were cold. I have taken them in and put in incubator. Question is, is there any chance of them hatching and was this the right thing to do? I put all three in a jug of water and the floated but is this good or bad?

[sokel]

I have found hens have come off in the early hours of the morning with chicks and left eggs behind. They have been cold and no sound coming from them, put them in the incubator and some have hatched within the next 24 hrs where as some have been D.I.S.

[HesterF]

Certainly worth a go. I posted last week about putting cold eggs into the incubator and finding out they're still alive. They were nowhere close to hatching but I think they're less sensitive to temperature at hatch time than they are earlier anyway.

Floaty/sinky thing is probably not much use to tell whether they're alive or not although I imagine they're supposed to float in they're that close to hatch (having lost 13%ish of their weight in water).

H

[ScotsGirl]

Well two were dud but the third is definitely alive and chipping its way out. Should be out by lunch so I can put with mum later. Hoping its female as so far only one male out of 6 

[HesterF]

Yay! Sounds like the other two were dud anyway but brilliant that you saved the other one!

[sh3ph3rd]

Eggs will float as they approach hatching, as the gas exchange is different compared to how it was during development. The shells get more friable as the membranes alter in the eggs. I have had hens abandon eggs during the coldest parts of winter even at late stages of development, and still the chicks will hatch. They become dormant during excess cold, the only time it'll kill is when they're chipping and expending their last amounts of available energy and damaging the shell so are unable to go back into 'sleep/suspended' mode, so to speak.

Of course, remaining without any heat for a good few days will kill them too, but they're quite remarkably able to survive that too. I think they have some ability to regenerate from early damages sustained from maternal management faults, such as yolk-sticking, etc, if the egg's restored to healthy management within three or so days. I've had very bad mother hens whose nests I've found out in the forest, who've had eggs weeks old that have not died nor developed, which are viable once put under a hen who sits properly. They can survive amazingly long lengths of time when only receiving half an hour's heat a day, or less; just enough to keep the cells from dying, but not enough to foster proper development. Of course, it decreases hatching rates, it takes a very good egg to tolerate that treatment. But I don't give up on eggs too quick, because I've given up too quickly in the past, going by the books, and there's few feelings as bad as realizing you just wasted a viable baby.

Concerning dead-in-shell chicks, have you heard of 'swimming' them? I've not tried it but apparently it often works. You could find better walk-throughs on it, but basically you hold the chick (once you've hatched it) in such a way as to keep its beak above water and support its neck/body, and you drag it through warm water. People say it 'kickstarts' a lot of dead but full term babies, and I'd believe that since I've 'jump-started' a few recently dead animals in my time, and baby chooks are incredibly tough yet simple.

[ScotsGirl]

 Wow that was really interesting. I did in the end give a slight helping hand to crack last bit of shell and chick fine. Let it dry in incubator then my son put it under hen. Hopefully it will be alive in morning especially as another female.


Just need to try and stop my other bantam sitting. She has been stealing eggs for 3 weeks now, thought she'd give up by now.

[lindaball1961@gmail.com]

Hi ScotsGirl, hope your little chick is now ok. Thanks sh3ph3rd for your advice in such a situation. I've just hatched 9 from an incubator with only 1 dead in shell. I will certainly try the 'swimming' if faced with this again. it's certainly worth a go!Best wishes-Linda

[sh3ph3rd]

Hope someone has success with swimming, it's on my to-do list when next confronted with a seemingly pointlessly full term dead chick. I've heard it works frequently enough to be worth a go anyway.

I got the diet wrong for my chooks one season years ago and had to hatch many babies who didn't manage due to my dietary insufficiency. Hope yours does well, ScotsGirl. I've got a lot of chooks alive today only because I helped them hatch, and some who aren't alive today because I made a mistake or didn't help them hatch in time. It's a learning curve, assisted hatchings are. Best wishes. 

[HesterF]

Just tried the swimming on two ducklings which my completely useless broody had left for dead (or killed, not sure which). No joy. However, the other five eggs which I'd taken from her earlier after finding them cold have all survived and hatched, with help, in the incubator. In fact, I've helped 15 ducklings hatch this week and 12 of them are thriving - the two with the broody would have been thriving if I'd brought them in earlier today. Grrrrr. She's banned from sitting again. Ever.

H

[sh3ph3rd]

Just tried the swimming on two ducklings which my completely useless broody had left for dead (or killed, not sure which). No joy

Bugger. Worth a try. The only circumstances I heard of it being used under was for chicken chicks dead-in-shell. Don't know if it'd work for ducklings or goslings or whatever, but at least you gave it a go.

Grrrrr. She's banned from sitting again. Ever.

Banned in a tasty way? 

[HesterF]

They were also just hatched rather than dead in shell. Not banned in a tasty way although hoping the banning results in her starting laying again otherwise she will be dinner. She's just really annoyed me.

H

[sh3ph3rd]

They were also just hatched rather than dead in shell.

Do you suspect she crushed them or left them to freeze?

hoping the banning results in her starting laying again otherwise she will be dinner

My uncle threatens plants into growing/fruiting/surviving. He'll take them out their posts to transplant, bash them about, rip out most of the roots in the most unceremonious way, bung them in the ground, and tell them that if he comes back tomorrow and any are wilting, he'll rip them out the ground and burn them alive. Or somesuch. None of them ever dare wilt, strangely enough. 

[ScotsGirl]

Little chick seemed ok and out with mum however I found a dead one a couple of days ago. Not sure whether a different chick but assume squashed as it has been cold at night. Annoying as it was a girlie. I think one I thought female is male. It's a legbar and has dark stripe down back but head has now gone pale which I think means it is male?

[sh3ph3rd]

If it's a purebred then probably male, as far as I know they are blurrier and paler if male.