Okay, First my one cochin went broody so I put some silkie eggs that I ordered under her. I put a few under her & the rest in my incubator to see how she would do. After she decided to set, I put half (4) under her. I didn't section her off because she was pretty much left alone in my side nesting boxes.
The rest of the hens started to lay eggs in the back corner of the coop- out of my reach.....Long story short her sister decided to sit on the clutch of eggs in the corner....I unscrewed the back of the coop & took the eggs away from her (22 in all!) and replaced them with the rest of the silkies I had in the incubator. They were all due to hatch on Saturday...
Fast forward to today. I went out to check on them & my first broody had moved herself out of the nestbox & was sitting on the coop floor w/ her wings spread. She had left one egg in the nest box & it was cold. There were also bits of egg shell (no big pieces like when they hatch in the incubator...
Her sister was still in the corner- no change. I closed the chicken door so that they both will have some privacy. I'm going out in a minute to put a waterer, chick food and chicken pellets in the coop for them.
I took the cold egg & put it in my incubator...I know that hens usually have a good sense of when an egg is going to hatch & not going to hatch- after the egg is warm again- should I try to put it back under her or her sister or leave it in the incubator for a few days?
I ordered a big rabbit hutch to put the girls into that I was going to put in a separate run from the other 3 chickens I have....it has been back ordered... What should I do to keep them all safe? You can see pictures of my coop set-up on my byc page...
Right now the other three will have to sleep outside...
The rest of the hens started to lay eggs in the back corner of the coop- out of my reach.....Long story short her sister decided to sit on the clutch of eggs in the corner....I unscrewed the back of the coop & took the eggs away from her (22 in all!) and replaced them with the rest of the silkies I had in the incubator. They were all due to hatch on Saturday...
Fast forward to today. I went out to check on them & my first broody had moved herself out of the nestbox & was sitting on the coop floor w/ her wings spread. She had left one egg in the nest box & it was cold. There were also bits of egg shell (no big pieces like when they hatch in the incubator...
Her sister was still in the corner- no change. I closed the chicken door so that they both will have some privacy. I'm going out in a minute to put a waterer, chick food and chicken pellets in the coop for them.
I took the cold egg & put it in my incubator...I know that hens usually have a good sense of when an egg is going to hatch & not going to hatch- after the egg is warm again- should I try to put it back under her or her sister or leave it in the incubator for a few days?
I ordered a big rabbit hutch to put the girls into that I was going to put in a separate run from the other 3 chickens I have....it has been back ordered... What should I do to keep them all safe? You can see pictures of my coop set-up on my byc page...
Right now the other three will have to sleep outside...
