It's been 27 days

[goldfinches]

My first time broody has now been sitting on her eggs for 27 days. They are showing no signs of hatching, although I know they were developing early on. (I don't know how to candle, but I accidentally cracked open an egg at two different times and they were veined and growing embryos.)

How long should I let her sit on them? I don't want to remove the eggs if there is still a chance they'll hatch.

(She actually began sitting on 4 new eggs at some point in the last couple of weeks, I didn't know it since I wasn't looking under her daily. Maybe some of those will hatch...)

 

[FireTigeris]

those eggs sound shot- the other eggs may hatch...

I always remove all extra eggs by marking the ones to leave under her.

You candle by going into a dark room and using a flashlight- I use a paper towel tube on the flashlight and put the egg on the paper towel tube- that way it shows up better,

 

[goldfinches]

I tried to candle the eggs, and didn't do too good. Used the tube and flashlight, but it was just dark.

I left the eggs there, (I had 4 marked with dates, so I do know which ones to pull out, but I just couldn't do it.)

So, imagine my surprise today when, I went to check on her, and lifted her feathers, and little black peep jumped out!

She's a cutie, and looks strong. No long feathers, but she's one of the origional eggs.

I set the eggs on March 29, so I think that means it was 30 days until the baby hatched. Wow!