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Agreed, this has never been a real problem. A hen will get off the nest to go eat and drink at day 18 on, I have seen em do it.
Hens are not as sticky as one would think they are. They do get off the nest and eat and drink and poop. Some hens have a back up broody hen that will stay the nest for her.
I had one hatch that TWO hens over on the eggs. They were really, really mad when I went to get their little babies, but they go over it.
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Well..........that was what I was doing.......using a straw like that..............but I had two hatch on Monday morning that I took out because they were bumping into the heating element the entire time. I did it VERY quickly and the humidity was fine..........but none of the rest of them have hatched yet...........I put this batch into the bator on November 10th at 8pm ish and then but them into the hatcher on Friday night(11/28)......did I do it right??? I don't how long to wait before giving up on them ;(
Thanks so much for all the help!
Sounds like you did it right, You moved the last set of eggs to the hatcher on day 18 and up'd the hum or you had chicks in the hatcher also ?? I would think if they should of hatched on the 28th and its now the 4th the arent going to hatch (are you 100% sure your dates are correct?) You could candle at this point to see if you see any movement. Somtimes when you have a few hatches going at one time it can get very confusing, having eggs all on the same day makes it so much easier !! just b/c the hum didnt drop on the hum gauge when you opened it doesnt mean that inside the bator things changed, know what I mean ?? When you open it (even a little) air comes out and new cold air goes in causing a difference and somtimes it just doesnt pick up on the gauge. We live and learn from the things we do, not your fault !!
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Agreed, this has never been a real problem. A hen will get off the nest to go eat and drink at day 18 on, I have seen em do it.
Hens are not as sticky as one would think they are. They do get off the nest and eat and drink and poop. Some hens have a back up broody hen that will stay the nest for her.
I had one hatch that TWO hens over on the eggs. They were really, really mad when I went to get their little babies, but they go over it.
Usually a broody will start sitting tight on the eggs about day 18-19 and will stop getting up for food and water. That's why the chicks starts peeping in there shells so mama knows they are coming and it triggers her to stay sitting.
My broody got up a few times from the 18th onward. We did lose one chick to a dry membrane, but I think it was from a cold snap/humidity drop here. Wish I'd seen it, the poor thing was just completely trapped by membrane even though it had gotton of a lot of shell.