Help! I feel a bit overwhelmed :(

[Mrs. K]

I would be leery of putting too many eggs under her. Broodies naturally move eggs around, with a big pile sometimes the ones on the outside edges are not warm enough and they die, then she stirs the nest, moving the now dead eggs into the middle and the ones on the edge die. You can get very poor hatch rate. Just because you got all those eggs, doesn't mean you have to hatch them. Just saying.

Personally with a standard chicken, I found I got a much better hatch rate with 8 eggs set, than with 12 eggs set.

Mrs K

 

[Mrs. K]

The bantam eggs will help, but don't set them all.

 

[bhawk-23]

I would be leery of putting too many eggs under her. Broodies naturally move eggs around, with a big pile sometimes the ones on the outside edges are not warm enough and they die, then she stirs the nest, moving the now dead eggs into the middle and the ones on the edge die. You can get very poor hatch rate. Just because you got all those eggs, doesn't mean you have to hatch them. Just saying.

Personally with a standard chicken, I found I got a much better hatch rate with 8 eggs set, than with 12 eggs set.

Mrs K

Thank you,

I've noticed this happening. She seems to have the bantam eggs in the center and the larger eggs on the outside. And I know this because I can *see* the outside eggs sometimes. I will candle and start removing eggs this weekend. I also gave some away knowing there were just too many. The shipped ones (the full sized plus two Bantams) might not develope because of the long journey but the Silkies and Seramas had a short trip in my car and I'm wondering if they will have more success. Never really can tell though, just the luck of the draw imo. Fingers crossed I can get a good look to see air sacs and veins, I am getting a little bit better at candling. What is the earliest you can see some signs of life? I also gave her a much deeper bed of straw in her new "nursery" and she is very content with all of them under her. But we do have a set up ready if we need to take some off her hands. No incubator, we are not interested in hatching ourselves though.

 

[aart]

What is the earliest you can see some signs of life?

3 days, might be better to wait for 5,
and do it well after dark, the darker the 'room' the easier to candle.

 

[bhawk-23]

So I am glad I set too many eggs because we have an egg stealer!! We have dwindled down to 13 total with only 4 full sized eggs left. We lost 4 more yesterday. One was broken and mostly eaten though they left the embryo. My puppy found one, across the yard from the coop, and carried it back, unbroken!! Love my mastiff, so gentle And 2 are completely gone, shell and all. We looked all over but no luck. I've had to gently wipe off eggs twice now with a wet paper towel. Not sure if I'm removing the coating so I'll have to candle in a day or two to make sure I'm not leaving dead eggs to spoil. Can anyone offer pointers on telling if they have stopped growing? I marked the egg brought back by Daisy to watch closely.

Funny how one chicken's hatches are perfect and we can be mostly hands off and the next one is filled with mishaps! But the first hen is a lot more irritable, protective and willing to fight even when on the nest. lol

I am assuming one of the abundant numbers of squirrels has figured out they are there with all the doors being open. Now if she was bullied off or came off herself we do not know. I moved the camera back to the coop.

My hen's comfort and health is most important and it is waaaay too hot to close the coop doors. Not until better ventilation is added. And it's too hot to leave my dogs out for any extended period of time. Hopefully we are lucky and the weather cools down so we do not loose anymore

I might not own a LGD, but I do own an expert squirrel terminator