So I was supposed to get an order or silkie eggs and was planning to hatch some more Opringtons along with them. But the silkie eggs were delayed so I had to figure out something else for the eggs I set aside since I don't want to use my incubator before my silkies get here, you know? I paid a lot of money for those eggs and I'm looking forward to some fluffy babies.
I stuck the eggs I collected over the past few days back in the coop with the hens with the hope that one of them might go broody over them. That was around April 23rd. I was just about to throw the batch out, but one of the hens decided today was the day to start sitting on them.
These eggs were collected over a period of time from April 18th to April 23rd. Today is the 29th, making the eggs 6 to 11 days old already. The weather hasn't been bad but this also means they've been out in the elements for almost a week already too. But now my chicken is finally sitting on them.
I don't have a lot of hope for these eggs, but... maybe there's a chance? I'm thinking of switching out some of the oldest ones (I numbered them before putting them in) with some laid today so she might have a better hatch rate.
Either way, it's no big loss to me since we got a good hatch of Oprintons earlier, but I think it would be nice to let a hen raise her own chicks for once.
I stuck the eggs I collected over the past few days back in the coop with the hens with the hope that one of them might go broody over them. That was around April 23rd. I was just about to throw the batch out, but one of the hens decided today was the day to start sitting on them.
These eggs were collected over a period of time from April 18th to April 23rd. Today is the 29th, making the eggs 6 to 11 days old already. The weather hasn't been bad but this also means they've been out in the elements for almost a week already too. But now my chicken is finally sitting on them.
I don't have a lot of hope for these eggs, but... maybe there's a chance? I'm thinking of switching out some of the oldest ones (I numbered them before putting them in) with some laid today so she might have a better hatch rate.
Either way, it's no big loss to me since we got a good hatch of Oprintons earlier, but I think it would be nice to let a hen raise her own chicks for once.
