Letting a broody hatch some eggs

[Ridgerunner]

Another question- other than curiosity is there any reason to candle eggs? I’d rather not put anymore stress on my broody than necessary, even though the anticipation will kill me. But If there’s an egg that didnt take, there’s no harm in it sitting there the whole 3 weeks, correct?

I candle my eggs in the incubator at Day 7 out of curiosity. I take no action at that time. I candle again as I go into lockdown, removing any clears to reduce the number of eggs I watch during hatch. If you notice a rotten egg smell sniff them and remove those. I've never smelled the rotten egg smell in my incubator before hatch. I have at the end of a hatch that got stretched out for three days due to the mess at hatching supporting bacteria growth.

I never candle under a broody hen. As long as the bloom remains intact the eggs should be OK. The only time I've had a rotten egg under broody hens was when an egg broke and got the egg fluids on the other eggs, which compromised the bloom.

I don't candle to look for rotten eggs. The smell will tell me that. I candle for other reasons when I candle.

It's human fiddling and interference that causes most of the problems with natural brooding.

I agree with that statement. That's one reason I don't candle a broody hen's eggs.

If the bloom is compromised on an egg under a broody, bacteria can enter so an egg can explode or leak due to bacteria growing. But that is very rare. Besides, I'm not looking for those tiny bacteria when I candle. I can't see them. But I can smell the results.

 

[NatJ]

Another question- other than curiosity is there any reason to candle eggs? I’d rather not put anymore stress on my broody than necessary, even though the anticipation will kill me. But If there’s an egg that didnt take, there’s no harm in it sitting there the whole 3 weeks, correct?

I think candling has practical value when you don't know how far along the eggs are (found a hen on a nest) and you need to plan for when the chicks are likely to hatch. Or if you think they might be at different stages of development and you want to sort them out according to when they are likely to hatch (givie some to different broodies, or some into an incubator.)

Other than that, I think candling makes practical sense if you are planning to remove the infertile eggs for some reason. Reasons might include:
--Broody tried to start too many eggs, you want to remove some so she can cover the rest more easily
--One broody quit or an incubator broke, and you want to combine all good eggs under other broodies
--broody abandons eggs at the end (maybe after one chick hatches) and you want to know if they still have a chance or if she's right to give up
--you think the entire clutch might be infertile or dead, and if they are you want to give new eggs or break the broody rather than have her waste more weeks. (I would probably check with shipped eggs, or the first clutch when the flock has a new rooster)
--eggs got chilled, may have died. In this case, wait at least a few days before candling. That lets the live ones grow some more without stressing them further, and it means the live ones will be more developed than the dead ones so you can tell the difference when you candle.

 

[Mrs. K]

If you pick up an egg, and it is light, and sloshy - it is a no go. Those I toss. Mostly just leave them and her alone. I don't candle either, mostly, cause when I have tried - those brown shells just don't let me see anything with confidence. I just let them be, and take what I get!

 

[ForFlocksSake]

If you pick up an egg, and it is light, and sloshy - it is a no go. Those I toss. Mostly just leave them and her alone. I don't candle either, mostly, cause when I have tried - those brown shells just don't let me see anything with confidence. I just let them be, and take what I get!

She’s already annoyed with me for checking under her for extra eggs so I’ll likely just leave her alone to do her thing.

 

[ForFlocksSake]

I know when using an incubator there’s a “lock down” period towards the end. Will a chicken stay put completely at this time? Does she stop getting off the nest? What’s the difference between the adjustments you make with an incubator vs what a hen does naturally?

 

[Ridgerunner]

I know when using an incubator there’s a “lock down” period towards the end. Will a chicken stay put completely at this time? Does she stop getting off the nest? What’s the difference between the adjustments you make with an incubator vs what a hen does naturally?

With living animals you do not get guarantees. Anything can happen and sometimes does. Remember that broody hens have been managing this on their own on instinct alone for thousands of years, from before they were domesticated. Did each and every one of those millions of broody hens over the millennia manage things perfectly? No, not really. But enough did that they never went extinct.

In theory and usually in life when a chick internal pips it chirps. This tells the hen that it is on the way and she goes from incubation mode to hatching mode. She stops leaving the nest. Studies have confirmed she can control humidity, at least to a point. Many go more into protective mode than they were before.

By listening to the chicks she can tell when the hatch is over. I've had broody hens bring their chicks off of the nest after less than 24 hours of the first one hatching. I've had some wait until in the third day of the hatch. The broody hens can hear those chicks and understand what they are saying. I can't so I leave it up to the broody to decide when to bring them off of the nest.

The broody hen knows by instinct what to do much better than I ever will. Is it possible one will do something wrong? Of course. But the odds of me messing up are much higher than the broody messing up so I leave her alone as much as I can.