On the third day you could tell if there is development in the egg. Hold the egg with the fat side up so. Get a bright flashlight, cup the egg in one hand creating a small stream of light and shine it up into the egg, but don't touch the egg to the flashlight. The goal is to peek inside. If it is completely clear, the egg is infertile. If you see any darkness at all, there is a good chance that it will develop. If you have store bought eggs to look at first it will help you understand what clear eggs look like. And they can take between 18 and 25 days to hatch depending on temps and other factors. And I know exactly what the babies will look like, cute fuzzybutt chicks! Lol! No seriously I don't know, but my guess is they will be adorably big yellowish babies that turn into large reddish beauties.My Buff Orp just went broody about a week ago. I let her keep 6 eggs after I noticed she started staying in her nest for longer periods of time after laying. She's stopped laying and been sitting for about a week.
I've seen action in the yard indicating that the eggs could be fertile. I don't know how many of the six are fertile. As far as I can tell she had been being mated when she laid each of them. Is it possible that none of them are fertile?
How long should I wait to remove the non-fertile eggs after any of them hatch? How long will it take for them to hatch? How long before I'll know that non of them are fertile? I don't have any candling equipment and I think it'd be just as well to leave it natural.
Btw- she's so cute all puffed up and sitting on her eggs
And- the roo is RIR. Any idea of what the babies might look like?
The difference is that you will see something growing. If the egg is clear by 7 days of sitting or incubating, then it wasn't viable. If you see any darkness at all, there's a good chance it will hatch. You should be able to see veins and the veins should be moving. On darker eggs it may be harder to see them, but if there's any growth I say leave it to hatch.
Yeah! Pics please!Hooray!!! I have a fuzzy butt!!!
I heard a lot of peeping earlier but let her be. Just peeked in the dark and saw a wee fluffy yellow/white head staring at me.
I usually just wait until 3 weeks old, by then I can generally guess the sex based on behavior and comb growth. My silkies I guessed correctly based on their topknots. The roo had extra wisps of feathers sticking off the back of his head. The pullet had a nice round doo. I've read that the feather sexing only works for certain hatchery born chicks, but it may be worth a try. Hope you have better success getting pullets the I, my last five I fear are all roosters. Only two I can't tell have pea combs. But since they have smaller pea combs I'm hoping they are pullets. Their actions say otherwise, time will tell.
That's pretty cool you have WLs that go broody. My WL was tossing shavings on herself in the nestbox yesterday, a behavior she hasn't done before, and one my broody tends to do. But as soon as she laid she hopped right down as usual.
