Hi everyone! I am a first timer of having chickens. In Baton Rouge, la.
We have Five female chickens from a group of 25 chicks born June 2019 two bantam hens and two polish laced (1 bw 1 golden) and 1 appenzeller spitzenhauben. Some died from sick. Quite a few got eaten by a hawk and We only kept one bantam rooster and one regular size rooster. He was full size black Sumatra. The hens all started laying January. We had a failed attempt at incubating (power outage for a day) I disposed of the eggs and they were fully formed chicks so daughter blames me that I killed them. i assumed they wouldn’t survive because day 24 still hadn’t hatched.
our last bantam rooster got eaten by a hawk trying to save his ladies (came home to it in action and daughter had to see it poor thing. He was her pet).
We recently decided to keep some eggs in nest to let them hatch by hen.
the first group we kept was March 3-8. We ended up having to get rid of our rooster so I kept a backup group mar 21-23.
The first group none of the hens would sit on the eggs. Then about five days in the Spitz decided she would sit in the nest. She has been sitting there since with the occasional scuffle from our bantams wanting to have a turn. She eventually kicks them back out.
we weren’t sure if the bantam would be fertilized from the full size rooster.
My daughter accidentally dropped one of the bantam eggs marked March 21 on March 28 and there was partially form chick in it.
i keep reading online that they should be hatched by day 21 and not to let old eggs stay in nest. So today I went out to see if hatching and decided to pick one of the thee eggs marked March 3. My husband cracked the shell and there was something in there but no movement. I thought it must have been dead and wanted to investigate to see if the chick actually formed. So I got a stick and poked to get the shell. When I did that it poke through the sack and blood came out and the sack started moving around. ( I was devastated and cried knowing I prob just killed the chick. And I’m still traumatized). So my question is, was that egg going to hatch despite being 30 days old? Also how long do I keep waiting for the rest to hatch?
We have Five female chickens from a group of 25 chicks born June 2019 two bantam hens and two polish laced (1 bw 1 golden) and 1 appenzeller spitzenhauben. Some died from sick. Quite a few got eaten by a hawk and We only kept one bantam rooster and one regular size rooster. He was full size black Sumatra. The hens all started laying January. We had a failed attempt at incubating (power outage for a day) I disposed of the eggs and they were fully formed chicks so daughter blames me that I killed them. i assumed they wouldn’t survive because day 24 still hadn’t hatched.
our last bantam rooster got eaten by a hawk trying to save his ladies (came home to it in action and daughter had to see it poor thing. He was her pet).
We recently decided to keep some eggs in nest to let them hatch by hen.
the first group we kept was March 3-8. We ended up having to get rid of our rooster so I kept a backup group mar 21-23.
The first group none of the hens would sit on the eggs. Then about five days in the Spitz decided she would sit in the nest. She has been sitting there since with the occasional scuffle from our bantams wanting to have a turn. She eventually kicks them back out.
we weren’t sure if the bantam would be fertilized from the full size rooster.
My daughter accidentally dropped one of the bantam eggs marked March 21 on March 28 and there was partially form chick in it.
i keep reading online that they should be hatched by day 21 and not to let old eggs stay in nest. So today I went out to see if hatching and decided to pick one of the thee eggs marked March 3. My husband cracked the shell and there was something in there but no movement. I thought it must have been dead and wanted to investigate to see if the chick actually formed. So I got a stick and poked to get the shell. When I did that it poke through the sack and blood came out and the sack started moving around. ( I was devastated and cried knowing I prob just killed the chick. And I’m still traumatized). So my question is, was that egg going to hatch despite being 30 days old? Also how long do I keep waiting for the rest to hatch?
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However, Welcome from New Orleans. Glad to hear you can keep a rooster. I would find an adult or older cockerel to add to my flock. Some one large and aggressive when it comes to protecting his hens, but respectful to humans. then you will have hatching eggs again!!!
