So the eggs in the 'bator are on day 9 now, and I candled them all. They are from a pen with my sussex rooster, 6 sussex hens, and a campine hen.
I set 21 of the sussex hens' eggs; 1 had a blood ring, and I am pretty completely certain the others are all clears. (Am leaving them in for now, just in *case* I'm wrong, but don't think so... I mean, the whole egg was glowing...)
I set 5 of the campine hen's eggs: 4 developing and alive, and 1 with a blood ring that I took out and broke open and seemed to have quit maybe around days 3-5 or so.
Now, I *know* the roo mates the heck out of the campine hen, she is his constant companion and quite barebacked... but I *have* seen him mate at least some of the sussex hens too, and several have enough missing feathers on their backs and heads that I assume he's mating them semi-regularly.
Yet next to none of the sussex hens' eggs seem to be fertile.
What would you suggest? I *could* remove the campine hen from the pen I suppose but then she'd have to live totally alone by herself, and would be terribly miserable. Dunno what to do... I don't want her miserable, but I *do* want sussex chicks (and don't particularly want sussex-campine mutts, in general, although it would be fun if these 4 hatched)
All suggestions appreciated,
Pat
I set 21 of the sussex hens' eggs; 1 had a blood ring, and I am pretty completely certain the others are all clears. (Am leaving them in for now, just in *case* I'm wrong, but don't think so... I mean, the whole egg was glowing...)
I set 5 of the campine hen's eggs: 4 developing and alive, and 1 with a blood ring that I took out and broke open and seemed to have quit maybe around days 3-5 or so.
Now, I *know* the roo mates the heck out of the campine hen, she is his constant companion and quite barebacked... but I *have* seen him mate at least some of the sussex hens too, and several have enough missing feathers on their backs and heads that I assume he's mating them semi-regularly.
Yet next to none of the sussex hens' eggs seem to be fertile.
What would you suggest? I *could* remove the campine hen from the pen I suppose but then she'd have to live totally alone by herself, and would be terribly miserable. Dunno what to do... I don't want her miserable, but I *do* want sussex chicks (and don't particularly want sussex-campine mutts, in general, although it would be fun if these 4 hatched)
All suggestions appreciated,
Pat
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