Tammy,

Sorry to hear about your dilemma!! None of my hens have gone broody, and this is our first batch of incubator eggs, so I’m afraid I have no advice for you. Maybe one of my readers will though. Hopefully since it’s the last egg it won’t have anything to crack against and it will make it. That would be terribly frustrating!!

Hi Kendra,

I’m also having such fun candling the eggs of our two broody hens. I just go outside with the flashlight and cup the eggs one by one.

I’m not so happy today, however, as the Marans hen keeps moving her eggs around, they crack, then she eats them. It’s not the end of the world (well, I guess it is for the chick that may have been developing) I know this occurs regularly in the chicken world, but now she’s down to just one. Have you ever had that happen, or do you always use the incubator? This saddens me just sitting here writing this all out. I’ve got her separated from the other hens (there are only 3 females in all), but if this last egg goes the same way, then what does one do with a broody hen? Sigh.

Hey Kendra,
How exciting!!! What kind of chickens are you raising? We have 2 golden comets, a bared rock, and an Ameraucana. We don’t have a rooster, so we won’t be having any chicks…..just lots of eggs!!

We have had great success with candling our eggs. We simply use a flash light and a dark room. My husband holds the egg in his hand and puts the flashlight to one end. This is a great link to see pics and explanations about the various things that can happen to eggs…http://ucanr.org/freepubs/docs/8134.pdf. I just had 2 Peking ducks hatch the day before yesterday and have more to go. We are hatching chickens, ducks, guineas and turkeys. Happy hatching..

Thank you Chantel. That is very helpful!!

Hey Jill!!

The chicks will be Rhode Island Red/White Leghorn mixes, and some purebred White Leghorns. *Crossing our fingers!*