Okay, last year one of my hens hatched out 3 chicks on her own, all I did was leave some eggs out for several days and she started sitting on them. I'm trying again this year but, so far, no luck. One of them started a nest in the bedding, not the nest box, so I left an egg there that day, the next day there were 3, etc until there were 12. As I went to mark the 12, one hen raised such a ruckus like I was murdering her, so I only marked 11 and took the 12th with me. Since then, I have removed the unmarked eggs daily but no one is sitting on them. Or maybe someone is--I just went out there and there are only 10 marked and I removed 3 new ones. But, wow, they were all hot. Not ambient temp warm, but hot. So I wonder if someone was sitting on them. They come running when I come out the back door, so maybe she just wanted a treat? I don't have a camera out there, so I can't watch them. How long should I wait without being sure they are being sat on before I remove them all? I'd hate to have them rot, but I don't want to pull them if someone wants to sit. Our daily temp has been mid 70's but it's supposed to rain tonight and then get cooler for several days.
