Chicken mystery solved!

[microchick]

Fantastic! That is good news.

There are candling charts on line that you can use to do comparisons with what you saw when you checked your eggs. You should be able to get a pretty good idea as to what gestation stage they are and be able to estimate when they will hatch. When they reach lockdown with their development, trust me, you will be able to tell.

You said that mom has been coming and going for 2 weeks more or less so that means there is a good chance that you should start seeing hatches in approximately one week. Look up what a 2 week gestation looks like when candling and recandle your eggs to see if they match that image. If they don't you can pretty much go forward or backward and find an image that matches your eggs.

So glad mom is settled in with her clutch and doing well.

 

[rainee63]

Yes, even in the rain yesterday, she was spread out over her eggies. I should have given them all back to her and I don't know why I didn't except I panicked when I saw signs of fertilization! I can't move her nest cuz she burrowed down into a perfect little bowl in the dirt. I have a large cage that I might use upside down, just put it over her and everything, so if/when chicks hatch they'll be safe.
And I'll be checking online as far as their approximate hatching time. Idk if I could just give the ones I "stole" back to her now, since they've been in my incubator for a few days? One day I will learn to let them be chickens instead of always thinking I gotta help them along!

 

[microchick]

I would give it a try. I'd try in the late evening/early night when I could still visualize what is going on and try to get them back under her. What I do when I candle is slip an egg out from behind the hen and at the same time put one at her breast feathers. She generally immediately tucks the egg at her breast under her without realizing I've stolen one to candle.

She seems to be a dedicated broody. I doubt if she is going to reject the eggs at this point in time or even realize any have been missing.

Don't feel bad. It's easy to panic when you have your first broody hen. Just keep telling yourself that hens have been doing this since they were dinosaurs and generally, with the exception of the total ditz, know what they are doing.

 

[rainee63]

Yes! Even when they're little. Lol.

I gave them back, tucking them under her breast, like you said. By the time I had fed n watered the rest of them she had them all safe underneath her. She puffed up and grumbled a little, but I let her have her space. She looks tired, poor girl. Now I just gotta figure out how to get everybody rearranged so I'll have a safe place for her babies. It doesn't help that I have 3 roosters I need to situate. *sigh*

 

[rainee63]

But I'm still very excited!

 

[microchick]

Definitely!

I had 5 broodies this summer and hatched 11 in my incubator. I was a wreck by the time the last eggs were hatched.

Good job reuniting mom and the eggs. Ya done good!

 

[rainee63]

Thanks! I was not expecting all this but I sure do appreciate your help!

 

[microchick]

You handled the hard part.

Now comes the hurry up and wait part.

 

[lilmarie84]

where she dug her lil nest at is she safe from predators just wondering

 

[rainee63]

Well... yes, and no. For now she is safe, but I'm working on rigging up some wire to keep any chicks that hatch contained. And I'll be transferring my older hens to another coop and giving her and her babies a smaller pre-fab coop when all the hatching is over.
She stashed herself very close to a shed. I was going to put a cage over her and her nest. But I can't make that work like I thought. :/