My hen is sitting on 20 eggs

[tufamily5]

Thanks to everyone who helped me along today. Here is an update, I do have a couple more questions:

1) Moved Vanilla (Buff Orpington) to an isolated location to sit on a new nest. She was sitting on 24 or 25 eggs today after finding three hens squeezed into her nesting box laying eggs on top of each other.

2) Dropped one egg in the scuffle and confirmed it was a chick

3) Warmed up some washcloths in a basket and brought eggs in to candle. Marked the ones that I am guessing are fertilized due to dark spot inside.

4) There are eighteen eggs now that she is sitting on. I collected the new unmarked eggs and left her with eighteen.


--Can she hatch 18 eggs, although it doesn't sound good based on feedback? She seems to be completely covering them all, as they are somewhat stacked in the middle.

--Should I get an incubator for 8 or 10 of them, or is it too late for this batch? She began setting Jan. 30th.

--There are two blue Araucana eggs in the clutch, but upon candling, they appeared brown or very dense inside. Couldn't get the light through them at all. The easter eggs in my fridge are not dense because I candled those to check against the dense eggs. Are they duds?

Thanks for all the feedback, I am reading every word, twice!


Sarah

 

[Judy]

It is POSSIBLE that she will hatch them all. Buff Orps can be pretty good sized hens. You might want to just keep candling every few days, at least for a while. You should get better at it with more practice. The only problem with leaving duds is they make an awful mess if they get so rotten they explode. They're not likely to do this if they are simply unfertile, though.

I've hatched out 6 or 8 batches under broodies, not a lot of experience of course, but I've never had an egg explote. I've also never had a 100% hatch, and I'm sure there were dead chicks in some of those eggs that had "quit." I think I had at least one broody who would eat the duds. Sometimes one would get cracked and I would toss it.

Now, I've had broodies, but have never candled an egg in my life. However, I would not put a wet cloth on them. Just carry them in any container and get them back to the nest within an hour or so. Moistening the shell increases the chance of bacterial contamination; the shell is porous enough for this.

Any blue or brown egg is easier to candle than a white one. (edit added; see below.) You'll be able to see more when the chick is a little older.

One ruuster usually pretty much keeps all the eggs in his flock fertile. They are usually pretty good at visiting all their girls, even though they often have some "favorite hens."

HERE you can see the stickies for this forum, in the blue box at the top, just in case you haven't found them yet. These are threads we keep handy for members, with good info in them. There are some great pics in there for helping you get familiar with candling.

Getting an incubator is up to you. It really depends on what you want. Will you be hatching and selling lots of chicks, or are you just letting a broody do her thing? I definitely would not spend the money just for this batch of eggs, myself. If she hasn't covered them well enough, there are probabl already some dead chicks in that nest. Hopefully, you will find them in the next few days, as they get a little easier to candle, and as you get adept at it. Once a hen goes broody, there is a pretty good chance she will do this again and again. Of course, noting chicken is written in stone! People have had had decent hatches even when a hen has been off the nest a full day. An hour isn't really all that unusual.

Good luck, and last but not least, welcome to our forum!

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Thanks to everyone who helped me along today. Here is an update, I do have a couple more questions:

1) Moved Vanilla (Buff Orpington) to an isolated location to sit on a new nest. She was sitting on 24 or 25 eggs today after finding three hens squeezed into her nesting box laying eggs on top of each other. Good. You never want extra eggs added to a clutch. It's important that all eggs in a clutch hatch within 24 hours of each other. If you have fresher eggs laid in the nest, there will be some that won't be as far along as the older ones, and she won't sit on them once the first ones have hatched. And you don't want her to--she has babies to care for. In the future, you can mark the eggs that she's hatching with a pencil and then remove any new eggs each day if other hens have access to the nest.

2) Dropped one egg in the scuffle and confirmed it was a chick

3) Warmed up some washcloths in a basket and brought eggs in to candle. Marked the ones that I am guessing are fertilized due to dark spot inside.
I agree with Flockwatcher, don't put a damp cloth on them. They'll be OK. What I usually do is take my flashlight out to the chicken after full dark. Gather all the eggs and put somewhere safe. Candle the eggs one by one and put them back after I candle them. They'll be fine even if they cool off a bit. You won't kill them.

4) There are eighteen eggs now that she is sitting on. I collected the new unmarked eggs and left her with eighteen.


--Can she hatch 18 eggs, although it doesn't sound good based on feedback? She seems to be completely covering them all, as they are somewhat stacked in the middle. Maybe. That's a lot, but might as well let her try.

--Should I get an incubator for 8 or 10 of them, or is it too late for this batch? She began setting Jan. 30th. I wouldn't. I know it's sad when you lose eggs, but unless you plan to hatch a bunch later, it's not worth the expense. Candle the eggs again about 5 days before hatch date, and discard any that aren't growing well then. That being said, I have an incubator (although I vastly prefer to hatch under a broody) and it did save my hatch once when the hen abandoned the nest on day 19.

--There are two blue Araucana eggs in the clutch, but upon candling, they appeared brown or very dense inside. Couldn't get the light through them at all. The easter eggs in my fridge are not dense because I candled those to check against the dense eggs. Are they duds? Dark all the way through except at one end usually means a developing embryo. I would say that they've at least started growing. Here is a link to day-by-day egg development candling pics: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/candling-pics-progression-through-incubation-of-chicken-eggs

Thanks for all the feedback, I am reading every word, twice!


Sarah

Good luck. Once you have a mama hen and chicks, you'll be hooked. Oh, and don't worry too much about cold temps. The babies will run around and play even in light snow, then run back under Mama to keep warm. Chicks are not nearly as fragile as people think they are.

 

[aart]

.....
Any blue or brown egg is easier to candle than a white one. You'll be able to see more when the chick is a little older.
.........

Really?!?! I would think that whites would be the easiest.

I've only done one hatch, the browns were easier the lighter they were, tho it took a few candles to get used to what I was seeing on the darker ones, and the one blue egg I never could see anything, but it did hatch(glad I left it in there!)

Good Luck tufamily5!

 

[tufamily5]

Thank you, what great information. I will hold off getting an incubator for now. I am leaning toward letting the mama hens and babies work things out naturally, because once I get involved, watch out! I usually make things more difficult than need be, ha!

Thanks again, and have a great weekend. Will be keeping an eye on our pretty "Nilly" for now.

Best,

Sarah

 

[Judy]

Quote: Oh good grief. Of course you are correct, aart!!! I just said it backwards, by mistake.

 

[RusticRoseRanchette]

My broody, first time as she is only a year. Had 16 eggs in her nesting box.
She hatched 14 out of 16.... one was not developed enough because it was laid by another hen shortly before the other eggs were
Going to hatch. One, I tried to open to see because canceling wasn’t working. Don’t judge...I’m a first timer at this.
She suv et hatched the viable 14 and she is a great Mom!

She is a Buff that I purchased from a feed store that purchased from a breeder. I raised her and h5 others. They were all supposed to be hens but one turned out to be a Rooster. He’s a decent guy so far.... no trouble with him.