Hello!
I have a broody hen (Orpington so quite large) from a 1 Roo, 3 Hen coop. I was sick for 3 days so didn't collect, and she decided to sit on the clutch of 9 eggs. I marked them all and have been checking for extras to remove. There were none yesterday, but today we lost 2 marked eggs (they must have broke and then been mostly eaten, please see my other post about help w cleaning her) and gained 3 new eggs. So she is still laying! But she's been sitting on these eggs for at least 2 nights so aren't they already at least 2 days along in developing? I have moved her to her own brooding pen, so the other hens won't be able to lay in her nest, but what do I do with the eggs she is still laying? I don't want a staggered hatch bc it'll still be too cold here in Ontario when they hatch, so if she leaves w the early chicks the late chicks will die (this is what happened the only other time I had a broody hen try to hatch eggs). But, I would be happy for her to hatch a whole clutch of her own eggs if that's what she's trying to do. The current clutch got dirty from the broken eggs which broke and went smelly within 12 hrs today, even though it isn't hot here. Should I remove all the eggs and let her lay new ones? Should I give her eggs from my other coop? Could the eggs have broken bc they were already rotten? Thanks for any advice you can offer.
I have a broody hen (Orpington so quite large) from a 1 Roo, 3 Hen coop. I was sick for 3 days so didn't collect, and she decided to sit on the clutch of 9 eggs. I marked them all and have been checking for extras to remove. There were none yesterday, but today we lost 2 marked eggs (they must have broke and then been mostly eaten, please see my other post about help w cleaning her) and gained 3 new eggs. So she is still laying! But she's been sitting on these eggs for at least 2 nights so aren't they already at least 2 days along in developing? I have moved her to her own brooding pen, so the other hens won't be able to lay in her nest, but what do I do with the eggs she is still laying? I don't want a staggered hatch bc it'll still be too cold here in Ontario when they hatch, so if she leaves w the early chicks the late chicks will die (this is what happened the only other time I had a broody hen try to hatch eggs). But, I would be happy for her to hatch a whole clutch of her own eggs if that's what she's trying to do. The current clutch got dirty from the broken eggs which broke and went smelly within 12 hrs today, even though it isn't hot here. Should I remove all the eggs and let her lay new ones? Should I give her eggs from my other coop? Could the eggs have broken bc they were already rotten? Thanks for any advice you can offer.