Chicken Birds and Bees - dumb beginner question

[koko365]

You do need a rooster to have fertilized eggs. You may not know if they are fertile simply by looking at them, but it doesn’t matter anyway because they are perfectly fine to eat. It is true that a hen intending to hatch eggs will lay an egg every day or so until she has a “clutch” of them to sit on. When she begins to sit in earnest with out leaving they will all begin to develop at once. They will hatch on the same day 21 days later.

Feel like hitting myself in the head... light dawns on dense mountain. NOW I get it. You can eat either, so it really does matter if it's fertile or not. I really had not properly understood this before. I had read the helpful article on the Home page link "Interesting facts about chicken eggs," but your answering this question is what helped me to understand. Thank you.

 

[koko365]

Okay... I just want to give you an update. She laid a 9th egg yesterday and if I had not taken the first 3, that would have brought the number of "clutch" to 12 total.

There is a rooster that lives two streets over from my street ...I just don't know if they have gotten together or not.

Anyway, as of last evening she is sitting on them full-time now. I want to bring her food and water, but I don't want to disturb her or scare her either. She has always kept about a 3 foot distance away from me, so I'm hesitant to get too close to the coop and I can't bring myself to open the coop door. I'm thinking that I will put a fresh bowl of water and a bowl of 5 grain scratch (with mealworms on top) about 2 feet out from the coop door.
Guess I will start counting the days too! (warm smile).

I hope she does have chicks! Thank you all so much for your help. I'm a big city girl..so this is all such a brand new experience for me.

 

[Shadrach]

I think the probability of her eggs being fertile is slim from what I understand of your setup.
If she is still laying eggs she is not properly broody. A hens egg laying cycle switches off when they are properly broody.
You can take a chance and let her sit. You will need to make sure she gets off the eggs once a day to poop, eat, drink and dust bath, so you will have to either leave the coop door open so she has free access, or get used to gently lifting her off the nest once a day and carrying her to somewhere in your garden/yard to feed her.
Scratch isn't really a good enough feed for chickens. You should buy a feed like All Flock.
Ideally her feed should contain 18% protein and given she a laying hen, up to 3% calcium.
You also need to be strict about the length of sit you allow her to sit. Incubation takes 21 days so if after say 23 days no eggs have hatched, you must take her off the nest and destroy the eggs. You can't eat the eggs.
My view is it is very important not to feed a sitting hen at her nest. They need to have some exercise. Sitting hens are relatively easy to handle. They go into a type of trance when they sit and their legs lock. If you gently slide your hand under her body and covering her wings with your other hand, you should be able to take her off the nest fairly easily. She will probably try to peck you.
When you place her on the ground she will probably stay in the squatting position. Put the food in front of her and encourage her to stand. You are also likely to get the vilest smelling pile of poop you can imagine. This is normal. Hens try hard not to poop in their nests when they sit so the poop has stored in the hen since the last time she pooped.
The more often you handle her the more confident you'll get.
One important point is when lifting her off her eggs try not to disturb the eggs.

 

[aart]

I think the probability of her eggs being fertile is slim from what I understand of your setup.
If she is still laying eggs she is not properly broody. A hens egg laying cycle switches off when they are properly broody.

Agrees^^^

Take those eggs away, check them for fertility.

 

[koko365]

I think the probability of her eggs being fertile is slim from what I understand of your setup.
If she is still laying eggs she is not properly broody. A hens egg laying cycle switches off when they are properly broody.
You can take a chance and let her sit. You will need to make sure she gets off the eggs once a day to poop, eat, drink and dust bath, so you will have to either leave the coop door open so she has free access, or get used to gently lifting her off the nest once a day and carrying her to somewhere in your garden/yard to feed her.
Scratch isn't really a good enough feed for chickens. You should buy a feed like All Flock.
Ideally her feed should contain 18% protein and given she a laying hen, up to 3% calcium.
You also need to be strict about the length of sit you allow her to sit. Incubation takes 21 days so if after say 23 days no eggs have hatched, you must take her off the nest and destroy the eggs. You can't eat the eggs.
My view is it is very important not to feed a sitting hen at her nest. They need to have some exercise. Sitting hens are relatively easy to handle. They go into a type of trance when they sit and their legs lock. If you gently slide your hand under her body and covering her wings with your other hand, you should be able to take her off the nest fairly easily. She will probably try to peck you.
When you place her on the ground she will probably stay in the squatting position. Put the food in front of her and encourage her to stand. You are also likely to get the vilest smelling pile of poop you can imagine. This is normal. Hens try hard not to poop in their nests when they sit so the poop has stored in the hen since the last time she pooped.
The more often you handle her the more confident you'll get.
One important point is when lifting her off her eggs try not to disturb the eggs.

I think the probability of her eggs being fertile is slim from what I understand of your setup.
If she is still laying eggs she is not properly broody. A hens egg laying cycle switches off when they are properly broody.
You can take a chance and let her sit. You will need to make sure she gets off the eggs once a day to poop, eat, drink and dust bath, so you will have to either leave the coop door open so she has free access, or get used to gently lifting her off the nest once a day and carrying her to somewhere in your garden/yard to feed her.
Scratch isn't really a good enough feed for chickens. You should buy a feed like All Flock.
Ideally her feed should contain 18% protein and given she a laying hen, up to 3% calcium.
You also need to be strict about the length of sit you allow her to sit. Incubation takes 21 days so if after say 23 days no eggs have hatched, you must take her off the nest and destroy the eggs. You can't eat the eggs.
My view is it is very important not to feed a sitting hen at her nest. They need to have some exercise. Sitting hens are relatively easy to handle. They go into a type of trance when they sit and their legs lock. If you gently slide your hand under her body and covering her wings with your other hand, you should be able to take her off the nest fairly easily. She will probably try to peck you.
When you place her on the ground she will probably stay in the squatting position. Put the food in front of her and encourage her to stand. You are also likely to get the vilest smelling pile of poop you can imagine. This is normal. Hens try hard not to poop in their nests when they sit so the poop has stored in the hen since the last time she pooped.
The more often you handle her the more confident you'll get.
One important point is when lifting her off her eggs try not to disturb the eggs.

Wow. Thank you so very much for all of this good information. I'll look to buy that All Flock over the weekend. I bought the Scratch because I really didn't know what else to buy at the store. Much of what they had seemed to be for new baby chicks. (guess I'll buy a bit of that too so it will be on hand if needed later on). It's so interesting to learn about the trance-like state they go into when they sit. The coop has a chicken entrance that is always open so she can come and go whenever she wants. You can see what it looks like in the photo that I posted. I'm not always home during the day to see if she comes out or not, but I'm going to try to take your advice and open the (human door) and see if I can lift her off the eggs or not. If she startles too much I will back away though because I don't want her to hurt any of the eggs either. I am going to watch my calendar too. I've counted off and marked the days so I believe 21 days will land on July 10th. Thank you very much for your help, Shadrach.

 

[koko365]

Agrees^^^

Take those eggs away, check them for fertility.

How do you check eggs for fertility without breaking them open?

 

[varidgerunner]

If it's a feral chicken that has adopted you, and it managed to survive without human intervention, and it is going broody, it is most likely a descendant of a game chicken. If there is a rooster within earshot, the eggs are fertile, if there isn't a rooster within earshot, she would keep moving until there was. Let her set. If nothing happens in 23 days or so, get her some fertile eggs. Or some day old chicks.

 

[aart]

How do you check eggs for fertility without breaking them open?

You don't....you'll have to break a few to see if they are fertile,
otherwise you may be wasting your and the hens time letting her set on them.