My boody hen has been trying to set on eggs forever. I'd been taking them because I thought we had enough chickens for now. We've got 12. My husband on the other hand wants us to have millions of chickens and begged me to stop taking her eggs, so I did.
She had 5 eggs she was sitting on. I didn't bother her other than to hand her a bite to eat a time or two through the day. She'd been in there for what seemed like forever the other day so I decided to take my flashlight in there and candle her eggs. To my surprise, she'd been laying eggs the entire time she was in there and had 12.
So tonight I go to the garage to get the mower out and decide to check on Henny Penny because when we candled the other day she had a couple eggs that were pretty far along. What I find is Henny and one chick. She had left the nest completely and moved with her one chick to a completely different location leaving all the other eggs. I had been out there earlier that day and she was still in the nest sitting so she had probably been gone off the eggs for several hours. The eggs in the nest were cool to the touch.
I decided to take the eggs in the house and put them in the incubator with the eggs I had in there from a friend. One chick had already pipped and I can hear at least 4 more cherping from the eggs. As I put the eggs in the incubator I counted 12, so she had laid another egg since the other day when I was out there candling.
I know I've read of other people doing this and hatching the eggs. I assume she has been laying while she sits so all the eggs are at different stages. Is it normal for a setting hen to continue laying eggs? She had never done that before. She was not eating a layer ration, don't know if that made a difference or not.
My question is, what are the chances of the chicks surviving and hatching out?
My incubator is homemade from an old Styrofoam cooler and isn't exactly big enough for all these eggs. After they hatch how soon can I move them out to the brooder without harming them so that they have room to move?
The eggs from my friend have won't be ready to hatch until around the 12th.
She had 5 eggs she was sitting on. I didn't bother her other than to hand her a bite to eat a time or two through the day. She'd been in there for what seemed like forever the other day so I decided to take my flashlight in there and candle her eggs. To my surprise, she'd been laying eggs the entire time she was in there and had 12.
So tonight I go to the garage to get the mower out and decide to check on Henny Penny because when we candled the other day she had a couple eggs that were pretty far along. What I find is Henny and one chick. She had left the nest completely and moved with her one chick to a completely different location leaving all the other eggs. I had been out there earlier that day and she was still in the nest sitting so she had probably been gone off the eggs for several hours. The eggs in the nest were cool to the touch.
I decided to take the eggs in the house and put them in the incubator with the eggs I had in there from a friend. One chick had already pipped and I can hear at least 4 more cherping from the eggs. As I put the eggs in the incubator I counted 12, so she had laid another egg since the other day when I was out there candling.
I know I've read of other people doing this and hatching the eggs. I assume she has been laying while she sits so all the eggs are at different stages. Is it normal for a setting hen to continue laying eggs? She had never done that before. She was not eating a layer ration, don't know if that made a difference or not.
My question is, what are the chances of the chicks surviving and hatching out?
My incubator is homemade from an old Styrofoam cooler and isn't exactly big enough for all these eggs. After they hatch how soon can I move them out to the brooder without harming them so that they have room to move?
The eggs from my friend have won't be ready to hatch until around the 12th.
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