No , no smell involved. After the 1st 3 appeared she stayed on the nest, more or less all day tuesday and wednesday. Yesterday she left the nest and spent the day out with the three chicks. I don't think she was near the nest last night. She huddled in the other end of the coop with the chicks under her.
I admit this was pretty much all her doing...she was broody and I was taking the egg, but when she refused to leave the next for anything I let her keep 8 eggs, fishing out any new ones ( she had a helper on that one! The other hen would even sit on the eggs when she took a break) I had planned to remove the rest this weekend if they didn't hatch. I was kind of surprised when I got the 3. A black one, a red one, and a mostly yellow with some red. This afternoon one of the eggs hatched. The chick is dry now, but not doing much, from what I read it is resting, but without the benefit of any warmth. Any suggestions, or just let nature take its course? It is a warm day and the coop is warm inside.
