Eggs in the nest

[hillerfamily]

yesterday I had three eggs and today I got two new one. I washed the ones from yesterday and put them in the fridge. I wanna use the 2 new ones from today and see if the hen will hatch them. I took them out and wrote on them to keep them seperate not to mix up and pull them out.

Will the hen sit on them and try to hatch them herself? They are clearly from 2 different chickens(one americana and one from a red)

when should I candle to look for fertility?

and how long is to long if they are not fertile and we just eat them?

Sorry- I feel like its a stupid question but we have only used the eggs for eating thus far, and would like to cycle some of the aged hens out...
We are new at the hatching thing. Any help would be great

 

[Tuffoldhen]

Your hen needs to have the instinct plus her hormones to kick in to want to set on a clutch of eggs. Just because you leave eggs in the nests doesn't mean she will set.

Only way to tell if your eggs are fertile is to crack acouple in a dish and look for the blastoderm/white bulleye in the yolk of the egg, or to incubate a few in a incubator and candle to see if fertility has occurred.

They are not stupid questions, everyone has been in your shoes. The learning center pages have great info on here on incubation and we are all willing to help with your questions.

 

[hillerfamily]

Thanks...I didnt want to feel like the new idiot on the block. Gonna cook the ones I pulled out yesterday..I'll check for the fertilization...I had to lift the hen up today to check for more eggs, so Im thinking shes ready to cop a squat for a good while....We shall see. I'll update tomorrow