I found the eggs

[chickmama320]

Apparently the girls have been going in what is supposed to have been my garden this year. Long story short- it was huge, I started planting, weeds started and I got overwhelmed. It has since become over grown. I have never once seen the girls in there so I really didn't think that there would be eggs in there. I decided that I need to get it cleaned out cause my dog found a possible copper head on the other side of our fence last week. So I was out with the weed eater today and low and behold I found a nest with 8 eggs in it. YAY!!!! There may be more somewhere in there- I ran out of the string for the weedd eater. I don't know what to do with my eggs though. I don't know how old they are and there is a good chance that they are fertilized. If they are I don't know how far along they might be. Also, since I don't want the girls to keep laying out there, how do I get them to stop? On my list of things to do today is to clean up the dog crate and get that rebedded for them for night time. If I put the eggs in there will they start laying in there??

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

Congratulations on finding the eggs. They can be sneaky when they want to lay in private. If you have a bator, you could put them in there and not knowing how far along they are, if you have a turner I would use that for the first 12 to 15 days and then take it out and turn by hand the last few days.
If you get the garden even cut down a bit that should disturb the nest enough that they will want to lay someplace else. Fix a nice nest for them and place an egg or two in it and show them that it is good. If you have a pen that you put them in at night, maybe leave them in it for a few days to force them to lay where you want. They like secluded areas to lay. So if you can make their nest area as secluded as possible the better.

 

[chickmama320]

Let me clarify one thing. Hubby DOES NOT want any more chickens. So It would not be a good idea for me to let them hatch (however I wouldn't mind if they did -insert evil laugh-).

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

Hey, you can never have too many chickens. And after that first hatch and he sees all those cute little fuzzy butts running around.....maybe he needs an incubator. Trust me, he can be converted.....

 

[GaNewChick]

You don't have a coop ~ can you get one built in the next couple of months? If not, I would not hatch them.