Questions about fertile eggs

[jed1154]

So, one of my rooster died at teh hands of a raccoon, leaving me with one rooster. No big deal, the single bantam hen started acting strange after that and never came out of the next box. So, we took some bantam eggs out of the fridge. They had been in there for at LEAST a week and some 2 weeks. We put those in the box with her. She's been sitting on them for two weeks now. We took them out yesterday and candled them just for fun....well, there are veins in some and the others have moving chicks inside....

This hen has also not laid an egg of her own for 4 weeks. Is this standard behavior? When I was younger, we would wait until the chicks started to hatch, and then remove them from the box to a heat lamp and box so they wouldnt get smothered. Is this still standard practice?

 

[MissPrissy]

Lots of things can make a hen go off her nest and stop laying. It is one of the trails of keeping chickens.

Let the hen brood the chicks. She will do a better than we can. It will save you lots of headache over feeding, watering, clean brooder boxes and keeping heat on. She will teach them things you can't even imagine.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Sorry about your rooster loss. Sounds like typical broody behavior from your bantam, that's great that you got eggs to develop that had been kept in the refrigerator for so long! Broodies usually don't lay any new eggs once they begin to set, because all the chicks must begin to develop at the same time, so they'll all hatch at the same time, usually within 12-24 hours of each other.

There isn't any need to remove the chicks from under the hen, she won't squish them. She has a way of sitting & holding her wings that makes a nice fluffy bedroom for her babes, it must be really cozy & comfortable in there.

 

[jed1154]

Awesome, good to know. Less work for me.

It sucks the rooster died, we don't name chickens, so its not a big deal, but Id rather have just shot him than have him go however raccoons do it.

However, this hen is a bantam, and with 10 other full sized birds, one rooster and three guineas, those chicks dont have a chance at survival if I dont get them out at some point or antoher.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I separate my broody hens so the other hens don't keep crawling into her nest box & adding eggs to her clutch. Then the chicks have a safe place to live with mama for a few weeks while they grow. There's other threads here about the best tactics for moving broody hens, usually involves doing it at night & trying to disturb her as little as possible.

 

[MissPrissy]

Wait until dark and move the hen to a private place where she can set the eggs and once they hatch protect the chicks. Good luck!

 

[slightlyscrambled]

I moved my broody bantam hen last night. simply picked her up out of box while my daughters gathered the eggs, stuck the eggs in a large dog crate with straw and put mommy in and closed the door. checked on her before I went to bed and again this morning, shes sitting on all 13 eggs! due to start hatching next Tuesday

 

[jed1154]

I have no place to put her.

 

[MissPrissy]

Can you put her in a largish dog kennel?