Fertile eggs won't hatch

[JacinLarkwell]

28? For chicken eggs?

I've had questionable ones I can't tell and usually I'm not 100% certain what day hens start brooding. 4 weeks is a safe time for most birds if they're healthy when they start setting, and usually by then it's obvious who wont hatch

 

[Fwoof]

I think I found a solution.
I'm moving the two eggs into the incubator and Lobo to our bantam coop (We have a large breed coop and a bantam coop) where the nest box is too small for her to sit in, to get her out of her broodiness and still possibly hatch two more editions to the flock!

 

[raingarden]

Can you smell them? If so, toss them before they explode.

 

[Fwoof]

Can you smell them? If so, toss them before they explode.

They don't smell like rotten eggs at all. They just smell like warm eggs.

 

[McChooky]

I think I found a solution.
I'm moving the two eggs into the incubator and Lobo to our bantam coop (We have a large breed coop and a bantam coop) where the nest box is too small for her to sit in, to get her out of her broodiness and still possibly hatch two more editions to the flock!

Chickens do a much better job than an incubator, they instinctively know what to do. The baby chicks recognize her voice when they hatch because she talks to them the whole time.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I think I found a solution.
I'm moving the two eggs into the incubator and Lobo to our bantam coop (We have a large breed coop and a bantam coop) where the nest box is too small for her to sit in, to get her out of her broodiness and still possibly hatch two more editions to the flock!

I am confused by this solution, instead of letting the mother raise her own chicks when she is more than fine to, you take them just before they're due to hatch?

The better option would've been to let her continue sitting until you're sure that they've been there about 4 weeks, like you were previously told - then you would know if they're truly viable or not.

Obviously it's your decision but I feel you've made it more complicated than it needed to be, harder for yourself and that poor hen probably thinks she was doing it wrong when she may have been doing just fine, and misses out on the opportunity to raise her chicks she's sat on for almost a month.

 

[McChooky]

I am confused by this solution, instead of letting the mother raise her own chicks when she is more than fine to, you take them just before they're due to hatch?

The better option would've been to let her continue sitting until you're sure that they've been there about 4 weeks, like you were previously told - then you would know if they're truly viable or not.

Obviously it's your decision but I feel you've made it more complicated than it needed to be, harder for yourself and that poor hen probably thinks she was doing it wrong when she may have been doing just fine, and misses out on the opportunity to raise her chicks she's sat on for almost a month.

I hope for her chicks sake they survive her "assistance" because mine didn't. I knew what day my eggs were due to hatch because I placed the eggs in the incubator. Had I given my chick another week & not insisted on assisting it hatch it may have lived.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I hope for her chicks sake they survive her "assistance" because mine didn't. I knew what day my eggs were due to hatch because I placed the eggs in the incubator. Had I given my chick another week & not insisted on assisting it hatch it may have lived.

Too many people make the same mistake just out of impatience and excitement to have chicks, unfortunately it seems to end poorly most the time.

 

[Fwoof]

I am confused by this solution, instead of letting the mother raise her own chicks when she is more than fine to, you take them just before they're due to hatch?

The better option would've been to let her continue sitting until you're sure that they've been there about 4 weeks, like you were previously told - then you would know if they're truly viable or not.

Obviously it's your decision but I feel you've made it more complicated than it needed to be, harder for yourself and that poor hen probably thinks she was doing it wrong when she may have been doing just fine, and misses out on the opportunity to raise her chicks she's sat on for almost a month.

Thank you for your advice. I will follow it.

 

[McChooky]

Thank you for your advice. I will follow it.

How do you plan to follow it after breaking her from being broody?