I want to check my silkie eggs progress. Should I do this at night and just grab the eggs from under my hen? Wont she get angry? Will that disturb her? Any advice appreciated!
Candling the eggs at night would be the best option. She should be calmer at night time when it's dark as most chickens usually are. She may get a little ruffled but it shouldn't be as much as if you candled during the day. Plus you get a better candling result and can see more of what's going off in the egg when it's dark. The key is to work quickly but carefully.
I've done it many times at night. It's a good way to keep her from sitting on non fertile eggs. You don't have to grab. Just slowly slide your hand under her and gently pull one out. I have had hens half-heartedly peck at my hand but most of them don't mind.
Thanks all! I went in at night easy peasy! Only concern I had was there were a few eggs only half under her that were cold... however those and the other eggs are all developing well, I can see the air pockets, spider web veins and a little kidney bean shaped baby. .. crossing my fingers for a successful hatch day!
Pile some more straw around her to make the nest deeper and more bowl shaped and those eggs will quit escaping!
What size/breed is the hen? Is she alone in a pen/place or with other hens? Did you "set" this hen or you just allowed her to "collect" her own nest eggs? How many eggs has she got under her?
We just wait till we see the laying hen get up to eat, drink or poo then we check them...You can just move the hen and check them, they'll, at least ours, will go right back to them, we just, when possible, wait till she gets up...We actually have a pair of golden sebrights in a cage in our laundry room, hehe, and she's laying on Sultan and Polish eggs for us...We just toss her a few mealworm snacks as a bribe to get up so we can check them! ;-) And honestly, I think it's just adorable if they get a little angry, they'll make the cutest sounds and act so cute!