- Sep 28, 2011
- 114
- 6
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Hi! 
So, I had two of my Americanas go broody and I decided to try and let them do their thing, and gave them each one egg to see if they could hatch anything. Well, clearly I was a little under-prepared...
For one thing, since I have more nests than I have laying hens, I allowed my broodies to stay in the main chicken coop with the flock, since they still forage with the flock during their "breaks" and I didn't want to have to reintroduce them later. They seem very calm and are not stressed by the presence of the other chickens, who seem to know better than to bother them.
Well, apparently one of the broodies got a little carried away with her nesting. Yesterday I went into the coop to check on the egg progress. When I lifted one of my hens, four eggs were there instead of 1. Apparently she has been waiting until my other hens lay their eggs and then stealing them, rolling them back into her own nest. So now I have no clue which egg is the one she's supposed to be hatching, and which are the "stowaways". I have no idea when she took them and can't guarantee they didn't go cold first, so most are probably not growing.
Then I candled the eggs, and that's what I have my question about. The two eggs I gave them should be about 6 days old, but I can't see anything but lighter areas all over the shell, like spots. I can't see any sign of stuff inside, but then the shells are dark brown so it is very hard to tell. They kind of look like the eggs in photos where bacterial infection has occurred. I will post pictures tonight, but my basic question for now is, is bacterial invasion in eggs common? If not, is it possible my nests are not a sanitary enough environment for hatching eggs? And is Bluebeard's egg-stealing habit a clue that she's too distracted to be hatching eggs anyway?
Thanks for reading!
So, I had two of my Americanas go broody and I decided to try and let them do their thing, and gave them each one egg to see if they could hatch anything. Well, clearly I was a little under-prepared...For one thing, since I have more nests than I have laying hens, I allowed my broodies to stay in the main chicken coop with the flock, since they still forage with the flock during their "breaks" and I didn't want to have to reintroduce them later. They seem very calm and are not stressed by the presence of the other chickens, who seem to know better than to bother them.
Well, apparently one of the broodies got a little carried away with her nesting. Yesterday I went into the coop to check on the egg progress. When I lifted one of my hens, four eggs were there instead of 1. Apparently she has been waiting until my other hens lay their eggs and then stealing them, rolling them back into her own nest. So now I have no clue which egg is the one she's supposed to be hatching, and which are the "stowaways". I have no idea when she took them and can't guarantee they didn't go cold first, so most are probably not growing.
Then I candled the eggs, and that's what I have my question about. The two eggs I gave them should be about 6 days old, but I can't see anything but lighter areas all over the shell, like spots. I can't see any sign of stuff inside, but then the shells are dark brown so it is very hard to tell. They kind of look like the eggs in photos where bacterial infection has occurred. I will post pictures tonight, but my basic question for now is, is bacterial invasion in eggs common? If not, is it possible my nests are not a sanitary enough environment for hatching eggs? And is Bluebeard's egg-stealing habit a clue that she's too distracted to be hatching eggs anyway?
Thanks for reading!
