Looking for some advice from those of you who are experienced with incubating.
A little background first......
I got an Ameraucana roo (he and his buddy, a RIR roo, are hatches from this past spring) to replace my now 2 year old RIR roo who is/was destined for the stewpot due to some [suspected] agression issues with the girls.
The two RIR were separated from the rest of the flock and from each other in the only other two cages I have available. Rhett (the older of the two RIRs) has settled down while the younger of the two has become increasingly surly and agressive with me. HE will be a pleasure in a pot with homemade noodles!
The Ameraucana roo has been in with the hens for about 2 months now. This little stinker has become more and more agressive with us (those of us who live in the house with electricity, running water, BYC, etc). My teenagers don't want to go in the coop because of his threatening behavior. We can't turn our backs on him because he comes at us, spurs first, flogging us for all he's worth.
We've been trying to teach this roo that this is OUR flock and that WE rule the roost when we're in there. DH went in tonight and the roo went for him. In the struggle, the roo jump on some rocks around the inside perimeter of the coop/run and severely fractured his leg.
Cut to the chase here.........we are going to put him out of his misery tomorrow afternoon (have a friend coming to harvest his beautiful feathers for some gourding projects). I wanted this roo for a breeder and would love to hatch some of his chicks. I have one hen who routinely goes broody every year about this time and successfully hatches each time.
My question is, how long do you think I can hold the eggs waiting for her to decide it's time? I've heard 30 days or so at room temps. I do NOT have an incubator, nor do I have access to one, unless there's someone close to the Verde Valley who'd like to run a test hatch for me. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
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