I have a couple rather newbie questions. I originally had one hen acting broody so I decided to let her try to hatch some eggs. Two others hens quickly followed suit. My first question is do they continue to lay eggs while they are broody? I would like to start gathering eggs from them again and was waiting until they started hatching chicks; however, if they continue to lay while being broody how do I tell newly laid eggs from ones she's been incubating? Also do hens really have a near 100% hatch rate? I checked how many each has under for the first time the other day and they each have 10-12 eggs. I guess I'll be handing out free chicks if all 30+ hatch. They've been sitting on them for about 3 weeks so I'm expecting to start seeing chicks in a few more days. I haven't candled any to verify if they are fertile; however, my roo seems fairly proficient in his roosterly duties.
Thanks for the help.
