I have a second time mama who is laying on eggs. Tuesday, June 7th will be day 21 from when we believe she started laying. I moved her into a dog crate within the coop in the same spot she was nested down to try and keep her from stealing eggs. We did this last year when she went broody and it worked like an ace. This year, however, it has not.
We went camping for Memorial Day weekend and upon return, found her on other eggs that my neighbor hadn’t picked up. The original eggs were cold, but I put her back on them. I have no clue how long she may have been off. This has been a continuous cycle every few days. We check in the morning and and for a few days she’s fine, laying on her nest in the dog crate, and then one day we get back from work and she’s on a pile where the other birds keep laying and her nest feels cold.
I candles eggs last night around dusk and pulled 2 that haven’t really developed, but most of the others definitely have that day 18-19 look where they are very dark and have a small air cell. I can’t really see any veins or anything (we have mostly brown eggs, a couple green, cream colors) and I use a small LED flashlight (best I can do at home). What are the chances they’ll hatch successfully? If they don’t by Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll go buy 6 chicks to put underneath her. Just curious if anyone else has had this? I did remove the dog crate and put her nest back where she keeps trying to lay to try and keep this from happening in the last few days but I’m wondering if it was futile since day 14.
We went camping for Memorial Day weekend and upon return, found her on other eggs that my neighbor hadn’t picked up. The original eggs were cold, but I put her back on them. I have no clue how long she may have been off. This has been a continuous cycle every few days. We check in the morning and and for a few days she’s fine, laying on her nest in the dog crate, and then one day we get back from work and she’s on a pile where the other birds keep laying and her nest feels cold.
I candles eggs last night around dusk and pulled 2 that haven’t really developed, but most of the others definitely have that day 18-19 look where they are very dark and have a small air cell. I can’t really see any veins or anything (we have mostly brown eggs, a couple green, cream colors) and I use a small LED flashlight (best I can do at home). What are the chances they’ll hatch successfully? If they don’t by Wednesday or Thursday, I’ll go buy 6 chicks to put underneath her. Just curious if anyone else has had this? I did remove the dog crate and put her nest back where she keeps trying to lay to try and keep this from happening in the last few days but I’m wondering if it was futile since day 14.
Unless they were excessively chilled they may very well hatch. Your candling seems to indicate that they have developed. They may be a bit late at hatching. Good luck.
