Fertile Eggs Under Hen Not Hatching

[alaskandaisy]

Hi everyone!

I am new to raising chickens and have encountered a problem. I have one rooster and three hens. Two of the bantam hens are co-setting, which I am not sure if they should be doing or not. They have definitely been on the eggs for over 21 days, but I am not sure when they started incubating them. The hens have pushed several eggs out over the course of the last few weeks. I candled those eggs and they are definitely fertile.

My questions are:

What are potential problems that could have caused the eggs not to hatch?

Should I take the eggs or should I allow them to stay on them longer?

Thank you so much!!

 

[featheredplanets]

The hens shouldn’t be allowed to brood any longer than they need to, I’d say 25 days at the max for any stragglers, setting is unhealthy on a hens body. If all the eggs are at different stages, you could just pop them in the incubator. It’s pretty important to mark eggs and write the date they were set on a calendar, this allows for you to remove any new eggs and prevent a staggered hatch. There’s many reasons eggs don’t hatch, from genetic deformities to parental nutrition to incubation technique, I’m sorry I’m not educated in that area so I can’t give you a detailed description as to why they didn’t hatch.
And welcome to BYC

 

[alaskandaisy]

@featheredplanets Thank you so much for your response!