Just in case, I would mark the eggs that you leave her. I draw a line in sharpie around the middle of mine. Check every day or so and remove any extras. Sometimes, other hens will lay their egg on top of a broody and the broody just adds it to her collection.I am going to take some of the eggs out.. I feel bad as they are def. fertile.. But she is sitting on all the eggs. I have put a board up that she can't jump over to steal any more eggs, the little witch..
This is great information!!I'll try and answer your second question about the 13 egg hen. Unfortunately, you're going to have a staggered hatch. Meaning the eggs have started developing on different days. Each egg she stole after she started sitting full-time will hatch late and mama may not keep sitting if she has newly hatched chicks to care for (maybe only 1-3 days after the first ones hatch). I can't advise you at this point what to do with this hatch, but the only way to keep her from stealing more eggs is to isolate her. In the future, if you can't isolate her, then you need to mark the eggs that she started sitting on day 1 and then daily remove any that she steals. One thing you could do for this present hatch, is to candle now and keep a reasonable amount that seem to be at the same development stage and either toss or incubate the rest. I'm assuming your hen is a silkie and they really can't adequately cover 13 eggs. I'd say about 8. Good luck.
Ok, 50-60% humidity during days 1-18, is way to high, in my opinion. I prefer to run 35%. I ran higher with my last hatch (45%) because it was so rainy here and that's the lowest I could get it. Sure enough I had 3 sticky chicks! How was your overall hatch rate? I would try your next hatch at a lower humidity and see how that goes. And I have to say that you really made me smile with your post about the ugly chick! LOL! That is what silkie chicks are supposed to look like! They have vaulted skulls, so the top of their head points out and that's were they have that poof of feathers. You are right. They do not look like all the other day old chicks that you see pictures of. But you will grow to love them and think they are adorable. Now when I see other chicks, I think they are not as cute as my silkie chicks!Ruby, the eggs were fresh and I incubated at 50-60% humidity... They are looking better today, but one of the chicks looks like he had a helmet on.. His head is funny looking. How can such a beautiful bird have such ugly looking chicks... The feathering down their legs is outstanding but I can't get over on of the chicks heads.. Make me laugh.. I know that's mean... But I love him..
Here's a pic of the first 2 white silkies I ever hatched, when they were 1 week old. White is my favorite silkie color. I also have buff, black, and blue partridge.Ruby, the eggs were fresh and I incubated at 50-60% humidity... They are looking better today, but one of the chicks looks like he had a helmet on.. His head is funny looking. How can such a beautiful bird have such ugly looking chicks... The feathering down their legs is outstanding but I can't get over on of the chicks heads.. Make me laugh.. I know that's mean... But I love him..
I ended up with just one silkie and 3 polish cuckoo's. Was hoping for better results but I suppose I should just be happy with what I've got. Throwing my big incubator away and will just use the mini advance in the future.
