Day 23

[Ketta_czarina]

Hello,

My momma has been sitting on two fake eggs and one real egg for (I think) 23 days now. It is possible but unlikely that one of my roos fertilized it before they left for the ranch.

It so happens that another hen started hatching a BIG pile of eggs yesterday, I am thinking of moving a couple over to my brooding momma.

Will she stop trying to hatch that real egg? I don’t want to accidentally cut a life short. I think she’ll be happy to have another round of chicks to strut around with though, and selfishly, she is much quieter when she’s brooding/mothering.

 

[sumi]

It would be kinder to your hen to break her broodiness instead of giving her more eggs to hatch now. Brooding hens lose a lot of weight while sitting and prolonging the sitting can be very bad for their health. With this said though, I'd candle the egg she's on just in case, to check if it's been developing, just in case!

 

[Ketta_czarina]

I swapped the eggs out with two tiny chicks, she kept them all night and has still got them under her. I boarded off her space so the other birds can’t bother them, and she has her own food and water. Hopefully she has adopted them as her own.

 

[Ketta_czarina]

It’s looking good, one got away from the nest and she chirped it back home, and they are all pecking happily at some mash.

Should I throw this other egg out? Or just leave it alone a little longer?

 

[sumi]

I'd leave her egg under her a little bit longer, or candle it to check for development. If it is fertile and developed, it should hatch any time now.

 

[Ketta_czarina]

I'd leave her egg under her a little bit longer, or candle it to check for development. If it is fertile and developed, it should hatch any time now.

Thanks for your help, she abandoned the egg to stay with the chicks, so I candled it, and it turns out that egg never even started to grow. Poor thing. At least she can be a momma to these other two babies.