I think I may wait and see how she does with the eggs she is sitting on. She has stuck on them pretty well so far. Plus I would hate to have her kill any of the chicks that I (hopefully) hatch out this Saturday!Definitely! I had one day where we were gone and some eggs froze. I picked them out as soon as I brought them in and separated them. Just like Karenerwin, I would not have known they had frozen had I not picked them out that night. I candled them the next night to show the guys and couldn't find the cracks on two of those eggs.
I fed everything back to the chickens from that day, including the non-frozen, non-cracked eggs. Do you find the eggs is more watery if the egg has started freezing to a gel state, but not cracked? I found a few of the ones I fed back to the girls watery and the yolks broke open easier.
That's a hard call. I'm not familiar with the barred rock breed regarding broodiness. I had a Silkie cross who is determined to set on the nest even if she hatches out eggs. I also have a tiny Silkie cross that will take any egg or chick you can give her. I can keep giving her chicks and she keeps taking them. The Silkies I have here are really easy going though, I can lift them up to gather eggs, put them out, put them back on any nest and they just roll with it. The only thing I can't do is stop them from setting.
You won't know unless you try it. You'd probably need time to keep an eye on everything and you've had a lot on your plate. It might add another level of stress you don't likely need at the moment.
Those donkeys blended in really well. I'm sure you won't have any trouble selling or trading your chicks. I got a chuckle out of "one of my tom turkeys must be a hen"!! I am planning on getting 2 or 3 turkey poults in a couple of months and grow them out for Thanksgiving.... I just need to research a bit more to make sure I have enough room for them!!
17 eggs today.
