fertile eggs?

[m2wandc]

It has been a rain storm here in california this week and I must be honest I have been "chicken lazy" and just opening the coop door, closing the coop door...of course making sure the feeders are full and water is full...but not spending time out there at all...it's more of a mad running dash to open the door and look at feeders...then mad dash back to dry land...

TODAY during a dry spot, I popped out there to look at the chickens and there are 4 eggs in the coop...we only have one hen and one roo....so they could be fertile...how could I tell? She normally lays one per day, so I'm guessing the oldest one is about 5 days old now??? I have to admit it would gross me out to eat these, so I left them out there...figured maybe I'll see what happens with them, maybe we'll have chicks, maybe we won't, who knows...let nature take it's course....

It's a 20-21 day thing? correct?
on what day could I candle them to see if they are fertile?
on what day could I be sure they are NOT fertile if they aren't?
How do I know if she's sitting on them enough? It's chilly at night and about 40 in the day...can they make it in this weather? (I don't want to incubate to be honest)
and what is the likelihood our hen (first time on eggs) could do this successfully?
would the chicks be OK outside with mom? (guessing I'd have to keep dad away for a while???)

 

[Partyfowl]

More than likely if you have a Roo, you have fertile eggs. You can crack one open and if you see a bullseye than there fertile. Theres a thread on fertile eggs here somewhere.
On eating fertile eggs... most chicken owners do. They taste the same. and really there not baby chickens.
Will you have baby chicks... you will only get baby chicks if you have a broody hen. Is she sitting on the eggs. You know she is sitting on the if.. well she is sitting on them every every minute of the day, making the exception to eat, drink and poop, then back to the nest. Some hen are such good mamas they lose weight and will not even leave to eat or drink. If the eggs are just laying there when you go into the coop and your hen is running around, pick up the eggs and make a omelet

 

[Ariel301]

Four or five days outside in cool weather...the eggs are fine to eat. I keep homegrown eggs on the counter at room temperature, we've never refrigerated eggs from our own chickens.

They are probably fertile, but as said, if she won't sit on them, they won't hatch unless you have an incubator. Or some other creative method of keeping them warm enough.

 

[m2wandc]

I don't mind eating fertile eggs that are collected regularly and put in the refridge, but I get the willy nillys from eggs that are 5 or so days old out in the weather...sat on or not...so I was just wondering how to tell if they are growing baby chicks in there (I found that photo thread, thanks) and if I leave them alone how many days before I can either have baby chicks or rotten eggs? What is the gestation time? 20 days?

 

[jenjscott]

gestation is 21 days, but they won't start if she is not sitting on them. Mine frequently set out at room temperature for a week before we eat them, no problem. No if it were 100 degrees outside, it might be a different story!

 

[m2wandc]

I don't know if she's sitting on them or not...we are having a knarly storm and I haven't been out there to see...I have the food and water up in the coop and the chicken couple are up in the coop....but whether or not she's sitting on them, I can't see that.

I want to put a date on the calendar to keep my eyes open for chicks or disgard the eggs...so I'll just put 21 days from today...that should be plenty of time to either have chicks or rotten eggs...right?

***

Will she continue to lay eggs every day or will she stop at some point???

 

[lemurchaser]

If she's sitting on them they'll be warm when you touch them. She also will be on them most likely. When my girls are broody they guard their nest by growling and making a huge fuss when I came in. You might catch her in the 20 minutes a day that they are off the nest, but if you checked now and again in 2 hours and she's not on the nest, then they're not going to hatch. She needs to be on them at least 23 hours a day for anything to happen.

If you leave them for a while she might get the idea and go broody once she has a good clutch size.

 

[m2wandc]

well it's no longer a concern...

She wasn't sitting on them when I checked.
The eggs felt cold.

And because the coop seemed to chilly and not that 'storm proof' I put them in a dog crate in the garage...it seems warmer in the garage and this way they have shelter day and night from the storm...

...my only concern is they don't have shavings in the crate, instead I laid a piece of carpet down on the bottom of the crate and then two crib sheets tossed in....with water and food....

...not a lot of room to roam...but safer...I hope they can get out of there...wondering if 4 or so days of being that cooped up will do anything negative to them???

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

i currently have a hen in the house that has been in a dog crate 'recuperating' from a feather plucking incident and i gave her eggs a week or so back when i thought she was becoming broody. but unfortunately she is not consistently laying on them all day long. i have a bantam faverolles hen that has been devoted to her clutch of eggs for the past week and a half, and i am lucky to see her off of them at all. she has been screeching and will peck at my hand if i try to touch her.

if your hen was going to go broody, moving her into the crate may do it. but i'm sure she may wait till she has a few more eggs under her before she will set them. she may also go broody for a few days and then stop it. some become devoted and others are not as good.

btw, what breed of chicken is your hen?

 

[m2wandc]

I left the eggs in the coop when I put the chicken and the roo (together) in the dog crate in the garage...so she's not sitting on them...they were cold and I'm 90% sure she wasn't brooding on them at all...

she is a silkie...but NEW to having more then one egg...we collect each day, this was the first time we didn't collect daily...she's only about 6 or 8 months old...very timid little girl...but beginning to be less timid now that she's the only hen in the hen house.

we were thinking we'd let our other hen (who died) have babies this spring, but we really don't WANT (if we can avoid it without the guilt of calling it murder) more silkies...if we got a batch of silkies, then so be it and they would become pets and I would learn to crack 3 eggs when I wanted 1...LOL but ideally we'd like to get a few bigger egg laying chickens in there this spring. (and no more roos, one is enough)