egg questions

[kpuerl]

I have been searching various threads and have not found the information I am looking for.
One of my hens recently started laying. (spring chick) I just found her laying spot up in a hay loft. There are > 10 eggs in it. When I picked up the eggs they were cool to the touch. She had been sitting on them earlier in the day.
If they are fertilized( she had been buddy buddy with the older rooster for the past couple weeks) when can you tell?
How long can she be away from the eggs and they will still be viable?
Is it better to rig up an incubator rather than to let her sit on them?
How soon do you need to move fertilized eggs to an incubator? When would it be too late?
all information appreciated
my girls

 

[Lamaremybabies]

I have been searching various threads and have not found the information I am looking for.
One of my hens recently started laying. (spring chick) I just found her laying spot up in a hay loft. There are > 10 eggs in it. When I picked up the eggs they were cool to the touch. She had been sitting on them earlier in the day.
If they are fertilized( she had been buddy buddy with the older rooster for the past couple weeks) when can you tell?
How long can she be away from the eggs and they will still be viable?
Is it better to rig up an incubator rather than to let her sit on them?
How soon do you need to move fertilized eggs to an incubator? When would it be too late?
all information appreciated
View attachment 1120696 my girls

If there are ten eggs and she's usually off the nest and the eggs are cool to the touch then they probably haven't even started to develop.

 

[Abriana]

You can let her sit on them if you want. Broody hatching is a great experience! I hatch all the time and can help with any questions you might have, feel free to ask!

 

[Miss717]

When she is sitting on them it might be to lay another egg. She might still be building her clutch of eggs and isn't quite ready to sit yet.

 

[lomine]

You could leave them to see if she gets broody but I wouldn't leave all of them. Typically folks don't incubate eggs older than 10 days because viability starts to drop after that. Also, depending on how big your pullet is she wouldn't be able to cover that many eggs well enough. Something else to keep in mind is that eggs from a new layer may not be fertile even if with a male around. Many say it takes about two weeks before they are good for hatching.

Chances are she isn't broody and is just sitting to lay a new egg. If you decide to leave them to see what she does you'll probably want to mark the ones you leave. That way you can see which are new.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Try to get her to lay in the nesting area. I don't think she's thinking of going broody just has a favorite place to lay eggs. That would be a pain to me climbing into a loft everyday to check for an egg or not.

You can crack an egg open into a dish and check fertility. White dot, older the egg it will be a bullseye, means it's fertile. I collect eggs for two to three weeks when preparing to incubate each spring. I've not seen a difference in hatch rate of day old egg to 2.5 week old egg. There is a point of diminished hatch rate with age of egg. I've personally not found it yet.

 

[Miss717]

Sorry didn't realize she is a pullet. I would not think that she would go broody this young. What breed is she?

 

[kpuerl]

thank you all for your replies. I don't recall when exactly the chicks showed up Mar/Apr maybe. She is a big girl, barred rock, a bit larger than the RIR and Americaunas.
I plan on moving them to the coop as soon as it is finished and I can catch them.