Incubating without an incubator?!

[Chants Cottage]

Hello folks. Just a thought... Recently one of our young bantams went broody and diligently sat on her clutch of eggs for two weeks... and then got bored of it and gave up. My OH reckons that we should have tried bringing them inside and keeping them under our oil fired stove, in an attempt to hatch them ourselves. We didn't bother as the eggs had been abandoned for too long (not sure how long a bantam's egg can be left for anyway...?) Has anyone tried such a thing? Is it possible? Just wondered...

[matowakan]

I am not sure how long eggs can be left after they have been under a broody. However when I was using an incubator I would collect eggs over a 3 -4 day period to have a load and then put them to incubate and they hatched ok.
I have heard of some eggs hatching when they have been put near a heat source.
I did incubate a ducks egg (in an incubator) that was part of a box of 6 that I had bought a week previously to use in cokking and thought I would give it a go. Egg hatched well and duck ,called Sammy , turned out to be an Ayelsbury who lived to an old age.
So.. I would say give it a go and see what happens!!!
I guess the only thing which may be hard to replicate is the humidity.
I wish you well and look forward to any updates

Fi

[Chants Cottage]

Ha ha! Lucky old Sammy eh?! Thanks Fi - may well have another go if they go off the whole broody idea again... Just slightly tricky to judge when and if they have given up on the eggs or just stretching their legs... I suppose a couple of hours might be okay? I did hear the other day that goose eggs can be sat on and then unsat on for ages and then will just carry on developing... I wasn't sure about how do deal with the humidity either but I suppose I could experiment with spray bottle and bowls of water maybe? Worth a whirl... Ta again.

[becks77]

Yes it is possible, I have incubated eggs in an aquarium (small) under a normal light source (bulb)
you must remeber to turn them daily to avoid sticking to shell and pray you dont get a power cut at 19 days or they will die in shell I'm afraid.And dont forget to put a small amount of water in the incubator for humidity.
Candling over a torch is good fun you an atually see the chicks develop in the shell.
There are some very good websites on how to do diy incubating, have a net trawl
Best of luck

[becks77]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-t ... to-chicken
there ya go x

[Chants Cottage]

Thanks Becks - just checked out that link and it's great. I've just shoved a thermometer under the stove so I'll see what it says and maybe get some eggs under there soon...

[becks77]

dont forget the humidity it stops them drying out and sticking to the shell

[trinder]

Nature can be so harsh. I just got back (late Sunday ) from a wedding in Scotland and the rain has been much worse here than Scotland. Living in Tewkesbury the flood a come quite quickly and are really just part of the nature of the place, so no real surprises for the locals. However the warm weather earlier had meant so many birds were nesting and when I took the dog for her walk yesterday I noted a pair of swans have deserted their nest ( three eggs in it) and some dead baby moorhens. Both on the same brook I guess the brook had swollen to make the nest wet and so wise mum just knew they could not survive that cold.
I had a very heavy heart as I watched the swans who had moved a long way from their eggs.
They had successfully raised a brood last year in that nest. I hope it's not too last for them to try again.

[Ellendra]

I came across a mention of an alternative way to incubate eggs, and it doesn't require expensive equipment, either. It involves putting the egg between one's . . . . umm, the censors will kick that word out, so lets just call it "an area of female anatomy". I'm still trying to find more info on this, but the search engines seem to be misunderstanding me.

At any rate, it might be interesting as a last resort.

[becks77]

Trinder that is sad but as you say if the birds suspect the eggs are no longer viable they will not hang around. Hopefully its early enough for a second clutch?

[thesunflowergal]

Ellendra,
I love your idea

[Chants Cottage]

Ooh I say. Can't think how you'd do it without, well breaking the eggs. The old Zumba class would be right out of the window...