31 eggs??

[that-orpington-life]

My 2 one-year-old spangled Orpington hens are laying in the same spot, and they keep arguing over who is going to sit on the eggs. Meanwhile, the eggs have been exposed for more than 2 weeks now, with the hens only sporadically sitting for a couple hours at a time and at night. There's a total of 31 eggs right now and I'm worried some of them may go bad if they're not incubated. What do you all think we should do about this?

 

[HuskerHens18]

Candle them. Get a small flashlight, LEDs are my favorite. Hold it up to the fat end of the egg and see if there's movement inside.

 

[HuskerHens18]

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=73884.0 Try this website so you know what to look for

 

[that-orpington-life]

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=73884.0 Try this website so you know what to look for

It doesn't appear that any of the eggs are viable. Do I need to wait longer or...?

 

[HuskerHens18]

It doesn't appear that any of the eggs are viable. Do I need to wait longer or...?

If all those eggs are 2 weeks old and there are NO veins, I would discard them or they could explode, covering your hens in rotten egg juice, not to mention the horrible smell. You could wait until this evening when everything's is dark and candle again if you aren't sure

 

[bobbi-j]

Why are you just leaving them there? If none are viable, get rid of them. I would guess neither of them is broody anyway since they are still laying eggs. A broody hen generally stops laying right before she decides to sit. If you are leaving them there in the hopes of one going broody, you're better off using golf balls or ceramic eggs to tempt them.

If those eggs haven't been incubated for 24 hours a day for several days, they're not going to hatch.