Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[kittyl]

Hi, we're at day 11 with Bibble's eggs & I know its time to candle them, but I'm reluctant to disturb her at night when

she's all settled. Yesterday I took her off & put her in the run for a poop, I quickly picked up each egg to feel the weight & put them back in the exact position I found them (is this important?), 2 of them seemed lighter than the others, would these probably be duds? Does it matter if I just leave them all there till the end or will I need to remove

the bad ones before the chicks arrive?

[atsw]

For all my hatches I've just left Mum to it for the 21 days. Unless an egg is visibly broken/cracked, there's less chance of doing harm if you leave well alone. Also, broody chooks often seem to know when an egg is 'bad' and will discard it anyway.

 

It's been my impression that the lighter weight eggs are actually the good ones. Certainly on my last hatch, all five eggs were considerably lighter at day 20 than they were at day 1, and they all hatched!

 

Andrew

[kittyl]

Oh dear, I hope that doesnt mean we'll only get 2 chicks!

The breeder that supplied the eggs told me that Pekin eggs get more tinted as the hens age,

2 eggs were very white so probably from young hens. I read that young hens have a higher proportion of boys.

Therefore my 2 white eggs are more likely to be boys than the others, does this sound right?

(I hope not because those are the 2 lightweight eggs I picked up!)

ah well...what will be will be

[miller30]

I always candle my eggs as i dont want the risk of any duff ones exploding i candled my pekin bantam eggs last week on day 4 and could see that 5 were fertile which shocked me as i thought my cockeral would be a jaffa as he is a bit strange you could candle them when she comes out for food and water leanne

[Green Tea]

I candled three of my six eggs yesterday (pekin - day 12) - one looked pretty empty but I'm not experienced enough to know if it was or not so just marked it as possibly dud but the other two definitely had movement within! I didn't wait until night but just took them right to the back of the garage where it was darker and used a big torch when I got Gretel off her nest for a stretch. I would have done the other three but she was getting really angry with me and was jumping up trying to peck my legs so I decided to leave her alone. I'm just going to leave her be now and keep my fingers crossed.

 

Hope that however many you and I get to hatch that they are mostly hens

[scarlettohara]

I think it would be easier to candle with a torch

[Mollie333]

I think it would be easier to candle with a torch

[Green Tea]

I knew I was going wrong somewhere

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I think it would be easier to candle with a torch

 

I'm so glad my mind works the same as yours Sara

[scarlettohara]

I have this vision of someone holding a shrieking broody in mid air

[kittyl]

oh well, I had a go at doing one yesterday eve when I put them to bed, couldnt see anything I dont think it was dark

enough, or I wasnt doing it right. Bibble looked very upset, so I left her alone. I may try again tonight, is it best to shine the torch from the back or the bottom? I read about the bad eggs exploding, this is when they have a bloodspot isnt it? does it often happen?

[kittyl]

I tried 3 of the eggs this evening, she let me sneak them out from under her, they all seemed pretty full, I could see the airsac & a dark shape in one but not much else. At almost 2 weeks I suppose they'd be too big to wriggle. It worried me that I may put them back the wrong way round or something, so I think I'll leave them alone now, as its

getting close to the end (18days for Pekins?)

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Mine have always gone to "full-term" ie 21 days...it makes no odds at this stage, just leave her to it & hope for little miracles to pop out when they are "done"

 

Sha x

[atsw]

18days for Pekins?

Mine have always gone to "full-term" ie 21 days.Sha x

Mine too. Of my five hatchlings that popped out at Easter, one was at day 21, the other four day 22. I have six other eggs under another Pekin at the moment and they are at 21 days today. There was no sign of activity at 7:00am this morning when I got up for work, but fingers crossed there will be cheeping to be heard at some point over the weekend .

 

Andrew

[kittyl]

ooh I'm going to be so impatient if they take that long, I'll be in there every 5 mins!

This morning I took Bibble off the nest for a poop, she had a lovely 10 minute stretch, fluff,

roll, & peck round the garden & a good eat & drink before going back.

It was like she was getting ready, I suppose she wont come off near the end.

While she was off I noticed some of the eggs had very faint pinkish mottling, as if some colour was showing through the shells, would this be the blood vessels? or a bad egg?