Lorax
Chirping
- Jul 13, 2020
- 62
- 95
- 53
Good day.
We are long-time chicken keepers and have raised our current hens from day old chicks.
One of our hens, Betty, turned broody a few weeks ago so we bought 12 eggs from our chicken lady up the road. She did say she wasn't sure if the cockerel had covered all the eggs. Betty was put in her own coop and sat on her eggs diligently. But at day five systematically rejected five of the eggs which all proved to be unfertilised. Bang on day 21 - yesterday - two hatched within hours of each other. Then, nothing.
Today she started going outside with her two chicks to feed and drink (outside into a covered run). But it soon became clear she wasn't going back in. We tried to get her back in by gentle encouragement and she stood on one of the eggs and cracked it. We opened it and there was a perfect, very nearly born, but dead chick inside which I found really upsetting. She has lost interest in the other eggs and they are now cold. We've put them in an incubator but don't hold out much hope.
This is our first time doing this. Did we do something wrong? Should the eggs all hatch pretty much within 24 hours of each other? I was thinking that surely they would otherwise you'd get a mother hen who was torn between looking after her chicks which get every more mobile by the minute, and sitting on her unhatched eggs.
Any thoughts or advice welcome.
We are long-time chicken keepers and have raised our current hens from day old chicks.
One of our hens, Betty, turned broody a few weeks ago so we bought 12 eggs from our chicken lady up the road. She did say she wasn't sure if the cockerel had covered all the eggs. Betty was put in her own coop and sat on her eggs diligently. But at day five systematically rejected five of the eggs which all proved to be unfertilised. Bang on day 21 - yesterday - two hatched within hours of each other. Then, nothing.
Today she started going outside with her two chicks to feed and drink (outside into a covered run). But it soon became clear she wasn't going back in. We tried to get her back in by gentle encouragement and she stood on one of the eggs and cracked it. We opened it and there was a perfect, very nearly born, but dead chick inside which I found really upsetting. She has lost interest in the other eggs and they are now cold. We've put them in an incubator but don't hold out much hope.
This is our first time doing this. Did we do something wrong? Should the eggs all hatch pretty much within 24 hours of each other? I was thinking that surely they would otherwise you'd get a mother hen who was torn between looking after her chicks which get every more mobile by the minute, and sitting on her unhatched eggs.
Any thoughts or advice welcome.
