From incubator to broody?? Shipped eggs.

[Slothinc]

I have read a few other threads about this but most don’t have updates on what happened.

Has anyone successfully put shipped eggs under a broody during the second half of incubation? I have 3 broodies so I’m not too worried about them being abandoned or anything. I have had horrible hatches with my incubator recently, and can’t figure out why. Could be a humidity issue because it does tend to fluctuate but I don’t know. I just want these eggs to have a chance at hatching. I have 4 shipped eggs developing in the incubator that I am considering moving under the broodies.

My last batch of eggs in the incubator yielded zero chicks, but I had one egg under a broody the entire time that did hatch. I had only 4 of the eggs that made it to lockdown or close to it, and they all died before hatch day. So I am thinking that they may have a better chance under broody.

Just wanted to see if anyone had an opinion! The broodies are already sitting on a few shipped eggs and of those I think 2 developed. (My shipped eggs this year have had horrendous air cells due to usps.) I wonder if the air cells would be “okay” to go under a broody the farther along the eggs are. They are on day 12 now.

 

[Slothinc]

In case anyone comes across this thread in the future I decided to put 3/4 of the shipped eggs developing in the incubator under the broodies. It’s a huge leap of faith in my girls to trust them with these eggs. I also had 4 local eggs in the incubator to test and see if they fare better than the shipped eggs, but I also put 1 of those local eggs under the broodies as well. Plus the couple of eggs they already have!

So I currently have 3 local eggs plus one shipped lav silkie egg in the incubator. Then I have 3 lav silkie eggs, 1 silkieX, and 2 local Orpington eggs under my broodies.

Fingers crossed I can get at least one of the lav silkies to hatch, this is my last shot (and 4th shipment of very expensive lav silkie eggs this year.) And the silkieX is crossed with lav ameraucana bantam, and was a special order. It is the only remaining developing egg from that order so I really hope it pulls through! The local eggs are 1 lav orpington and 3 mottled Orpington plus one ameraucana/silkie cross that was a cracked egg (put wax on before incubation but still surprised it’s developing - it’s one I kept in the incubator so I can keep an eye on it).

Now I just hope that the broodies can pull it off since I put almost all of my eggs under them!

 

[Companihen]

Very interested, how is it going?

 

[Slothinc]

Well, I think my incubator is trash. The one egg I kept in the incubator the entire time quit early (around day 19-20 if I had to guess) which is what happened with all my chicks the last round of incubation. The 4-6 eggs that made it far in incubation all quit between 17-21 days.

Now I didn’t keep the eggs that were under the broodies there the whole time because they kept making me nervous and I would go out sometimes and they would be all in the same box and left some eggs cold. The ones that would be good broodies and stay on their nests, are my least friendly chickens - having been raised by a mom instead of in a brooder. So I didn’t want them hatching out the chicks. But my friendlier chickens were not the best broodies. So I brought the eggs from outside inside.

The one egg that was remaining from a batch shipped from VA, hatched without issue. A darling black chick that is a cross between silkie and lav ameraucana bantam. It will carry lavender and the blue egg gene.

The two mottled eggs that spent at least 90% of their time under the broodies hatched, but I did help one. They are doing great. I *think* one is a jubilee Orpington and one is black mottled. The pen they came from was mottled lav roo over mottled lav, mottled black, and mottled jubilee hens.

Then the lavender silkie eggs - I waited too long to help them and they were shrink wrapped. One died shortly after helping it - I knew right after I opened the egg that it was too late. The other is ALIVE and seems well!!!!! After hundreds of dollars spent on lavender eggs I have this one surviving chick and I am in love. So grateful. Also there is one egg still in the incubator - it looked like it stopped developing around the 19th day but it was still alive when I checked it yesterday so it gets to stay in for another day or two.

Sorry this didn’t end up being a good experiment because I moved a lot of eggs back and forth. But I am at least concluding that my incubator (chickcozy) is bad and killing the eggs. Would not recommend at all!!! The good news is that I am picking up a used brinsea advanced mini today because I can’t be without an incubator

I’ll attach some pics of the 4 babies I ended up with.

 

[2ndTink]

They're adorable! That lavender silkie is perfect

Incubators are tricky, a bad one is just so heartbreaking and good ones are expensive

 

[Companihen]

Thanks so much for your informative and full answer. Loved reading that. But oh it is so tricky isn't it. Currently have 18 eggs which I have purchased and had posted in a janoel 48 incubator. Yesterday was day 18 and I called them and 11 look hopefully. But these next few days are going to be very stressful waiting! I hope I do everything right and they manage to get out ok. I have had a broody bantam the whole time and been weighing up whether I should give her some of these eggs. I didn't initially give them to her as by the time my eggs came she had already been broody for nearly 3 weeks and I didn't know of she would carry on sitting! Turns out she has!! But I have made the decision now to incubate all these ones.... and ill give her a chance next time I think

 

[wrathsfarm]

It's eerie how similar my situation is...my incubator is iffy at best and still trying to get it dialed in. 0/22 first hatch, 8/22 second hatch. I've got 2 broodys sitting on eggs and then decided my life wasn't chaotic enough so I purchased 12 more shipped. Well, wouldn't you know, another hen goes broody on the same day they arrived !!
I've got the eggs in the incubator just to make sure she was fully committed (new young broody). But what I'm thinking to do is candle at day 7, and swap out her eggs for 6 of the shipped and keep 6 in the incubator for another try with it.

I'm hoping to be able to slip what hatches from Bator under her.
At least this is my theory/plan so far....

That little lavender is very cute..

 

[Companihen]

Yes I forgot to say your lavender is very nice i hope it stays strong and well for you

 

[Slothinc]

Thanks so much for your informative and full answer. Loved reading that. But oh it is so tricky isn't it. Currently have 18 eggs which I have purchased and had posted in a janoel 48 incubator. Yesterday was day 18 and I called them and 11 look hopefully. But these next few days are going to be very stressful waiting! I hope I do everything right and they manage to get out ok. I have had a broody bantam the whole time and been weighing up whether I should give her some of these eggs. I didn't initially give them to her as by the time my eggs came she had already been broody for nearly 3 weeks and I didn't know of she would carry on sitting! Turns out she has!! But I have made the decision now to incubate all these ones.... and ill give her a chance next time I think

I had the same question with my girls - whether or not they would stay broody! The two nicer hens had been broody already for several weeks before I got these shipped eggs. Then it turns out that they broke themselves like 2-3 days before the eggs hatched (because I had another not so nice hen go broody and kept kicking them out of the nest boxes, sigh) If they had stayed broody I probably would have stuck these chicks under them but I will just raise them in the brooder because I don’t want to put them under the unfriendly moms. I’d love to hear how your hatch goes!!!

Thanks for the well wishes on the lavender - I hear they are very easy to kill So I am just praying I can keep this one alive!!

 

[Slothinc]

It's eerie how similar my situation is...my incubator is iffy at best and still trying to get it dialed in. 0/22 first hatch, 8/22 second hatch. I've got 2 broodys sitting on eggs and then decided my life wasn't chaotic enough so I purchased 12 more shipped. Well, wouldn't you know, another hen goes broody on the same day they arrived !!
I've got the eggs in the incubator just to make sure she was fully committed (new young broody). But what I'm thinking to do is candle at day 7, and swap out her eggs for 6 of the shipped and keep 6 in the incubator for another try with it.

I'm hoping to be able to slip what hatches from Bator under her.
At least this is my theory/plan so far....

That little lavender is very cute..

Oooh please keep us posted on how that goes! Also I think that is a great idea - I had some eggs not develop under the Broodies when I put them under right away. Then after several days realized the air sacs were very jiggly. After being in the incubator for several days, you can make sure that the air cells aren’t jiggly before putting them under the moms. Wishing you good luck on your hatch!!