Hatching with a Broody Hen

[mrsgibber]

Hi everyone.

This is our first go round with hatching at all and it is with a my little Belgium Quail Antwerp. Today is day 20 and she has been a fantastic mom the entire time. I candled the eggs over a week ago and to my novice eye it looked like there was something happening in at least four of the six eggs.

My question is this......since she hasn't left her nest in at least 36 hours it seems now is that any kind of indication that she knows they are going to start to hatch soon and she doesn't want to leave them unattended? Before she would come out and stretch and eat the little treats I'd bring her but she has no interest now. I try to lift her up enough to see if anything is happening but the eggs all still seem to be intact.

Can anyone give me a clue for what to look for? I don't want to disturb her by taking out the eggs to candle.

Thanks!

 

[karen71]

I would leave her alone till she decides they have all hatched and gets them up - I don't know about quail eggs but chickens will wait for all eggs to hatch that will hatch - my guess is they can feel whats going in inside and know if the egg will hatch . Broodies know best

 

[goldnchocolate]

From what I've read, most hens don't leave the nest once hatching is beginning. Both times that I've had a broody hen hatch eggs they hatched on day 20. If you go peek you might see a little teeny tiny face peeking back at you

 

[mrsgibber]

Awww, I sure hope so. The whole family (except for maybe my husband...who knows if they hatch he has to build me another coop LOL) is very excited and hopeful that she'll be successful....even if we only get one fuzzy butt we'll be thrilled!

 

[elmo]

Rather than look, maybe you could sit quietly nearby and listen for lttle peeps?

We have one more week to go on our first broody (two more weeks to go on the other two), and I haven't felt this impatient since I was a kid waiting for Santa Claus. I don't know how I'm going to make it through this nest week!

 

[mrsgibber]

I have been squat down in the pouring rain for over an hour with her this morning just hoping to hear something but the rain is too loud!!

I just brought her out some scrambled eggs and she got off the eggs enough for me to see nothing is pipping. Boy was she ever hungry. Oh I hope this works out!!! The suspense is killing me.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Hee! That sounds exactly like something I would do. I'm going to check this week's weather forecast right now. Hope for dry weather!