HollyDutton
Chirping
So, background:
We have a flock of about 12 that lay roughly 8 a day or so. Two are broody (started week and a half ago). No roosters, so all eggs here are infertile. I decided to get some fertile eggs and picked one hen to be the setter (she would scoot eggs over under her, got major fluffed up and made "back off" sounds when approached... the other broody would just sit there hot in a stupor).
Added some alternate laying spots for the other girls (cat litter boxes) and blocked the chosen broody into the preferred nesting box with a wire dog pen, and food and water. Slid some purchased fertile eggs under her last night at 7pm and she stayed on them until first getting out today around 2pm. First time we've tried hatching anything.
She had been getting off the infertile eggs and returning to the box after a stretch/eat/poop/bath. Usually someone else would hop in there and lay, or else the other broody would be in there anyhow (often the 2 of them were in there at the same time, for hours on end, and overnight). Well, when she emerged this afternoon she was NOT happy to be blocked in. Rammed the wire cage enough that it jarred open a door, and she got out. Not sure she could figure out how to get back IN, my husband just slid the cage away from the box, for full unfettered access to it (for anyone).
After an hour she came back in and went back in the box with the fertile eggs. Are those eggs lost, by not having anyone on them for an hour, after being slid in last night?
We weren't experienced enough when setting up the coop to make the box easy to get to for anything but just picking up eggs - it's awkward and around a corner inside a door at waist height. The coop is not a walk-in coop.
So my question is... if this agitates her being blocked in, that doesn't seem like the best way to go, unless we just assume she'll get over it, and be OK with being confined to a 2'x3' dog cage outside her box, for 3 weeks. I don't want to see her hurt herself trying to get out again.
The other hens had used a couple of the alternate laying boxes, so if they continue to do that, that's good. Would it be OK to just let anyone in to either lay, or sit on the eggs, without collecting the infertile ones, unless we happen to be there when nobody is in the box (when we can easily see which eggs are which)?
And... would any infertile eggs that have been sat on in the next 3 weeks be ok to eat?
I don't want to handle the fertile eggs too much by having to pick all of the eggs up in order to determine which is which, on a daily basis. But if it's bad to leave infertile eggs in there, we'll either need to monitor on the camera for when there is no broody in there, and quickly remove the infertile eggs for the day, or else pull a broody out, which sounds disruptive.
Hope this makes sense!
Thanks.
We have a flock of about 12 that lay roughly 8 a day or so. Two are broody (started week and a half ago). No roosters, so all eggs here are infertile. I decided to get some fertile eggs and picked one hen to be the setter (she would scoot eggs over under her, got major fluffed up and made "back off" sounds when approached... the other broody would just sit there hot in a stupor).
Added some alternate laying spots for the other girls (cat litter boxes) and blocked the chosen broody into the preferred nesting box with a wire dog pen, and food and water. Slid some purchased fertile eggs under her last night at 7pm and she stayed on them until first getting out today around 2pm. First time we've tried hatching anything.
She had been getting off the infertile eggs and returning to the box after a stretch/eat/poop/bath. Usually someone else would hop in there and lay, or else the other broody would be in there anyhow (often the 2 of them were in there at the same time, for hours on end, and overnight). Well, when she emerged this afternoon she was NOT happy to be blocked in. Rammed the wire cage enough that it jarred open a door, and she got out. Not sure she could figure out how to get back IN, my husband just slid the cage away from the box, for full unfettered access to it (for anyone).
After an hour she came back in and went back in the box with the fertile eggs. Are those eggs lost, by not having anyone on them for an hour, after being slid in last night?
We weren't experienced enough when setting up the coop to make the box easy to get to for anything but just picking up eggs - it's awkward and around a corner inside a door at waist height. The coop is not a walk-in coop.
So my question is... if this agitates her being blocked in, that doesn't seem like the best way to go, unless we just assume she'll get over it, and be OK with being confined to a 2'x3' dog cage outside her box, for 3 weeks. I don't want to see her hurt herself trying to get out again.
The other hens had used a couple of the alternate laying boxes, so if they continue to do that, that's good. Would it be OK to just let anyone in to either lay, or sit on the eggs, without collecting the infertile ones, unless we happen to be there when nobody is in the box (when we can easily see which eggs are which)?
And... would any infertile eggs that have been sat on in the next 3 weeks be ok to eat?
I don't want to handle the fertile eggs too much by having to pick all of the eggs up in order to determine which is which, on a daily basis. But if it's bad to leave infertile eggs in there, we'll either need to monitor on the camera for when there is no broody in there, and quickly remove the infertile eggs for the day, or else pull a broody out, which sounds disruptive.
Hope this makes sense!
Thanks.
