Hello, So our chickens suffered trauma from neighbor dog breaking into their coop one night. The chickens that we still have after that event stopped laying eggs. So we stopped checking for them after a couple months of no eggs. Well at some point they started laying again and we didn’t check(they don’t lay in the coop). Well my son was out playing and heard a cheeping noise and went to investigate and low and behold one of the hens was sitting on a bunch of eggs and 2 had hatched. We took the two babies as it is still pretty cold here and put them in the brooder with heat. My question is how long should we allow her to sit on the remaining eggs? I did candle them when she left the nest to eat and they are all pretty full with chicks so I know they are all fertile, just not sure how to know if they have already passed their breaking out time or not. The first two hatched we are guessing Thursday morning and it is now Saturday morning. Do I let her sit another week? Does she stop siting when she knows they won’t hatch? This is a first for us so any advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you in advance.
She may continue to set since you took those first babies. I would candle the eggs again, and if there is no sign of life, remove them, and destroy her nest site. If you'd left the babies with her, she most likely would have abandoned the nest 48 hours after hatch to tend the babies. BTW, hens usually do an admirable job taking care of their babies, even in freezing weather, as long as they have a dry and draft free place to be. Congrats on your new babies. I hope your set up is now dog proof.