Broody Hen and 4 eggs : day 1-(...)

[Madie'sOddFlock]

Well, it's a little late to be starting this(they should be hatching on Sunday), but here I am. So I started with 3 eggs. They did fine for a week then one disappeared. We'll put it down to pesky small children being in the coop when they're not supposed to be. A few days later I candled again and couldn't be sure if one of them had a blood ring(we have brown eggs and I use a smaller LED flashlight). A week later I candled another fertilized egg and replaced the old one. At the time I couldn't find the third egg because I didn't want to bother the hens. On Monday(the day after I candled the other eggs) I found the third egg. Well, I couldn't see anything in it when I candled, and boy did it smell. Never having dealt with this particular situation I was wary to find out what was wrong with it... I'm now positive this was the one with the possible blood ring. So we cracked it over a garbage can with a feed bag spread across the top... the egg shattered and out came rotten, olive green, watery egg. So note to self... if an egg smells next time just get rid of it. Yesterday the new egg I found on Sunday had disappeared, probably once again to little hands or greedy broody's getting a little too handsy with another hen's eggs. So today I'm down to one egg... with a detached air sac... I'll be on the lookout for more developing eggs, but on Sunday all I can hope is that the egg actually hatches, or at least tries to.

 

[wamtazlady]

I have always been so very lucky. When my hen has gotten broody she just takes off and hides somewhere in the wild rose bushes. I always figure a predator got her. Five weeks later she shows up with chicks. I never have to candle and worry about the eggs hatching.

Good luck. Hope your egg hatches.

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

I have always been so very lucky. When my hen has gotten broody she just takes off and hides somewhere in the wild rose bushes. I always figure a predator got her. Five weeks later she shows up with chicks. I never have to candle and worry about the eggs hatching.

Good luck. Hope your egg hatches.

Lucky duck! Ours lay in the bushes but they leave them within a day or two so we find clutches of 8-15 eggs in random places. So I usually candle at least a few and any that already show promise I plop under a hen in the coop. There are 3 of our 15 boxes that someone is always in. And thank you.

 

[wamtazlady]

I know I am so lucky. I never have to go through all that worrying. What is strange about my only hen who ever goes broody is that she only goes broody when the rooster dies. She did it 2 years ago when we sent the very mean rooster to freezer camp. She did it this year when a cougar took the roosters. The rooster dies and 5 weeks later she hatches a batch of chicks. That hen is a keeper.

 

[Madie'sOddFlock]

Well, Day 21 came and went yesterday for my one poor little lonely egg. And I came home from the store to find that a hen had gone after it and eaten most of the excessively green interior... I guess she did the hard work for me.