I don’t believe the size of the egg has any bearing on hatchability.
Different breeds lay different sized eggs and manage to reproduce.
Some pullets will sit and stay; others may sit for a while, get bored or distracted and abandon their eggs. It’s a common problem with youth; it seems like a good idea until the reality sinks in.
I’ve never understood this desire to candle eggs. It seems it’s something people with a particular type of personality do because it’s exciting and interesting. The problem is, the first three days when a hen sits the orientation and environmental conditions for the eggs has an impact on the hatch rate and the health of the chicks. The same is true for the last three days.
If you’re happy to let them sit then don’t interfere with the eggs, or nest.
It really doesn’t make any difference if your happy to let the hen sit whether and what number of the eggs are fertile. If they’re not fertile they wont hatch, nothing needs to be done. If they are fertile and she sits the full term then the hen will hatch them. They’ve been doing this for centuries and seem to have got it all worked out.
I would however limit the number of eggs your hen can sit on to 6.
There are a couple of reasons for this. If all six hatch then the probability is you will get three males and three females. Do you have a plan for the males if they hatch?
Say she hatches five, then this number is possible for her to get under her wings and if she free ranges, feed. In big clutch hatches the proportion of chicks that die tend to be higher because the competition for food and shelter is greater.
I do sometimes let pullets sit. My rules are.
I don’t lock them in. They need to get off the nest to eat, drink and defecate away from the nest. I just can’t stress how important this is. They need access to the outside while sitting.
The nest site needs to be secure from predators. If it isn’t then you need to do make it so.
I don’t move hens once they’ve decided to sit or touch the eggs unless the site is dangerous and then I just remove the eggs. I do not try to move the hen eggs and relocate her. Hens lock to a nest site, not to a clutch. There is usually a next time. hens that go broody can do it a number of times a year.
Hens in the wild don’t make nests in blackout conditions. There is evidence that a certain amount of daylight is necessary to ensure the health of the chicks. So no, you do not need to put her in a dark box.
What is important is her nest site is safe. There are pictures in this article of one of the prefered nest sites for quite a few of the hens here and as you can see it is very far from a dark little box in a coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/
There is another article about what makes a good nest site here;
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/
Hopefully this may give you some ideas.
Different breeds lay different sized eggs and manage to reproduce.
Some pullets will sit and stay; others may sit for a while, get bored or distracted and abandon their eggs. It’s a common problem with youth; it seems like a good idea until the reality sinks in.
I’ve never understood this desire to candle eggs. It seems it’s something people with a particular type of personality do because it’s exciting and interesting. The problem is, the first three days when a hen sits the orientation and environmental conditions for the eggs has an impact on the hatch rate and the health of the chicks. The same is true for the last three days.
If you’re happy to let them sit then don’t interfere with the eggs, or nest.
It really doesn’t make any difference if your happy to let the hen sit whether and what number of the eggs are fertile. If they’re not fertile they wont hatch, nothing needs to be done. If they are fertile and she sits the full term then the hen will hatch them. They’ve been doing this for centuries and seem to have got it all worked out.
I would however limit the number of eggs your hen can sit on to 6.
There are a couple of reasons for this. If all six hatch then the probability is you will get three males and three females. Do you have a plan for the males if they hatch?
Say she hatches five, then this number is possible for her to get under her wings and if she free ranges, feed. In big clutch hatches the proportion of chicks that die tend to be higher because the competition for food and shelter is greater.
I do sometimes let pullets sit. My rules are.
I don’t lock them in. They need to get off the nest to eat, drink and defecate away from the nest. I just can’t stress how important this is. They need access to the outside while sitting.
The nest site needs to be secure from predators. If it isn’t then you need to do make it so.
I don’t move hens once they’ve decided to sit or touch the eggs unless the site is dangerous and then I just remove the eggs. I do not try to move the hen eggs and relocate her. Hens lock to a nest site, not to a clutch. There is usually a next time. hens that go broody can do it a number of times a year.
Hens in the wild don’t make nests in blackout conditions. There is evidence that a certain amount of daylight is necessary to ensure the health of the chicks. So no, you do not need to put her in a dark box.
What is important is her nest site is safe. There are pictures in this article of one of the prefered nest sites for quite a few of the hens here and as you can see it is very far from a dark little box in a coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...-not-about-the-egg-it’s-an-escort-call.74386/
There is another article about what makes a good nest site here;
https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...e-make-a-sitting-hens-job-so-difficult.74389/
Hopefully this may give you some ideas.
