How long will the Hen stay Sitting??

[MamaDragon]

Greetings All!

We have a hen sitting a nest of 13 eggs layed by a group of 7 over assorted days covering a span of at least a week. We've had 1 chick hatch yesterday, and another this morning.

How long will she keep sitting the eggs before she abandons the unhatched eggs?

At what point do I need to remove the unhatched eggs?

Thanks,
Kathy

 

[Chirpy]

Welcome to BYC! Congrats on your new babies.

I don't have a lot of experience in this area but I'd give her another two days and then remove the rest of the eggs.

Someone with more experience may come along and give you better/different advice.

 

[Wildsky]

Don't remove the eggs! Leave them as long as she will sit.
My hens hav ealway left the nest at around day 3 but there were no more eggs to hatch.

 

[ginasmarans]

She will stay on the eggs until she has to choose between taking care of her hatched chicks and the unhatched eggs,probably about 3 days. If the chicks wander too far,she will leave earlier. You could take the chicks and hand raise them for a few days and then give them back when she is at the end of the hatch. Congrats on the new babies!What kind are they?

 

[MamaDragon]

Thanks for the replys!

We've got a mixed assortment of 1 Barred Rock, 2 New Hampshire Reds, 3 Brown Leghorns and 1 White Leghorn. Chester, the rooster, is a New Hampshire Red i think. It took some Internet detective work comparing pics to chickens, but so far those are my best guess.

The White Leghorn is the Mama.... apparently a surprise to several on this board, as it seems they don't make good mothers. All I know for sure is that she bristles all her feathers whenever anyone comes near her, and pecks anything that gets in reach!

We tried marking the eggs, but on some of them, the marking rubbed off, and others faded and the child collecting the eggs didn't see it, and I didn't either until it was too late to put the eggs back in the nest.

BTW- what CAN you mark eggs with that won't drive the hen away, not seep thru the shell and damage the chick, and not wear/rub off to prevent this from happening next time?

 

[Chirpy]

I just used a standard ink pen to mark my eggs. I could still see the marks after 25 days under the broody.

 

[ginasmarans]

These white leghorns seem to be rebelling against their reputation. I've had 3 go broody this year. One is supposed to hatch her eggs this week. She will try to take my hand off when I get too close.

 

[MamaDragon]

Well, Mama abandoned her eggs after hatching out only two chicks. We've put a waterer in the box, along with one of those little tray feeders with a mix of scratch grain and cornmeal. I'm off to buy starter mix this morning,

New question: Do I go grab the incubator and try to hatch out the ones she abandoned? or assume that the ones she left are not viable, and start a group fresh from laying?

I was hoping for 5 - 10 chicks from this batch, and that would have been plenty for now.

Kathy

 

[swtangel321]

Quote:
Yup quick grap the bator and put em in, They might just be later hatchers they still have a GOOD chance !!!!! after they hatch they can go back with there mom and brothers and sisters (well i would wait a day and let them fluff up)


Also a pencil works fine to mark eggs, thats what i use i draw a little star on the end of the eggs !!!! It fades a little but nothing to bad, ive heard so many different things about markers and pens being bad, ive heard the pencils work great b/c nothing gets in the shell.

enough reading : go get the bator

keep us updated PLEASE !!!!

 

[MamaDragon]

Greetings All!

Good news, Bad news.......

Good news- I got a hand-me-down styrofoam incubator and got the eggs into it this afternoon.

Bad news- the lady who gave me the incubator had never used it, didn't know if it worked or even how to control the inside temps in it.

So now I need a Crash Course in Incubation 101!!!!

We've plugged the thing in, the heater indicator lamp lit, and so now we pray. It also has a Little Giant mechanized egg-trays inside it, and hopefully that is working as well. There is NO thermometer in it however, and no apparent way to control the internal temperature. Anyone know where I get one for this??

Mama started cannibalizing the eggs, so I got the rest out in a hurry.

The nice thing about this heat wave is that the air temps have been in the upper 90's to over 100 and last night's low was only 70, so maybe they didn't get too chilled last night to survive.

I've got a crate to put the new babies into when they hatch, unfortunately, the only place I have to keep it is in the chicken house. I'm scrambling for a light/heat source to keep them warm....failing that all I can think to do is cover the crate with a blanket under it, and one over it for the nights.

I hadn't planned on incubating any eggs until spring, and having time to get set up with a brooder box etc. (I guess i get to go back to town tomorrow and buy a clamp-on lamp and outdoor extension cord.)

Will any regular light bulb do for this, or do I have to have something specific??

Kathy & Kids

P.S.- we're filling the incubator with fresh eggs from the rest of the flock in case these didn't survive being abandoned last night.