I recently purchased a bantam mama hen on 9 eggs at an auction... after I brought her home I kept the wire on over the nest to keep her on the eggs while she settled into her new home. After about 4 hours I took the wire cover off and she stayed on the nest. In the A.M. when I went out to feed she was on the roost. All day she stayed off the nest... I would place her on it and she would stay there until I left the coop, then I would see her in the run again. It's been 3 days now and I keep her enclosed on her nest at night. My question is, is this normal? I have never had a mama before since I can not have a rooster where I live and thought this would be a good way to experience new babies. Will the developing chicks survive being left uncovered all day? Air temps are between 60-71 in the coop throughout the day. I tried to "candle" the eggs to make sure they were fertile but I am not sure at what I was seeing, as I didnt think I was seeing much. A few I could see what looked like an air bubble at the top and the bottom was darker, but I could only see through on a few of them. There is a lady I work with that has an incubator I could use but the hen is acting like a crazy broody hen besides not sitting on her eggs.
