It's spring down here in Australia and I seem to have a rotating roster of broody hens. While frustrating, I finally decided to take advantage and throw some fertile eggs under a couple of them.
My SLW is happily sitting on 12 eggs with plenty of coverage. She's on day 10 and is sitting strong. Only gets off twice a day for about 15 minutes to eat, to poo, and to drink. She's an old girl and poor layer, but she seems to be doing this broody thing really well. She turned up in my yard one day after a neighbour abandoned her, and while she lays badly formed eggs very irregularly, she might actually be of good use to me as a brooder and mother to some chicks.
My silkie on the other hand has been a bit of a poor brooder. She doesn't seem to want to cover all her eggs, has broken a few, is constantly up and down, and has now completely abandoned them and is no longer broody. This is her fourth broody period in 12 months, and every other time she has sat on an empty nest for 3 to 4 weeks. I put the eggs under her at night on day 3 of her brood thinking she'd happily sit it out.
Anyway, as she abandoned the nest yesterday afternoon, she was off the eggs for about 3-4 hours. She sat on them over night (I checked thrice through the night and they were always covered), but this morning had completely abandoned them again. It's been about 6 hours now.
Luckily (?) today another hen (a beautiful blue egg-laying Lavender Araucana) seems to be kicking into her first ever brood. She laid first thing this morning and keeps sitting on everyone else's eggs. As it's been a combined 10 hours over 2 days, what's the likely viability of these eggs hatching if I put them under her? Temps have been a minimum of 16°C/59°F and a max of 20°C/68°F.
I'll candle them tonight and look for signs of life, but wondering whether others have experienced something similar and what their outcome was.
My SLW is happily sitting on 12 eggs with plenty of coverage. She's on day 10 and is sitting strong. Only gets off twice a day for about 15 minutes to eat, to poo, and to drink. She's an old girl and poor layer, but she seems to be doing this broody thing really well. She turned up in my yard one day after a neighbour abandoned her, and while she lays badly formed eggs very irregularly, she might actually be of good use to me as a brooder and mother to some chicks.
My silkie on the other hand has been a bit of a poor brooder. She doesn't seem to want to cover all her eggs, has broken a few, is constantly up and down, and has now completely abandoned them and is no longer broody. This is her fourth broody period in 12 months, and every other time she has sat on an empty nest for 3 to 4 weeks. I put the eggs under her at night on day 3 of her brood thinking she'd happily sit it out.
Anyway, as she abandoned the nest yesterday afternoon, she was off the eggs for about 3-4 hours. She sat on them over night (I checked thrice through the night and they were always covered), but this morning had completely abandoned them again. It's been about 6 hours now.
Luckily (?) today another hen (a beautiful blue egg-laying Lavender Araucana) seems to be kicking into her first ever brood. She laid first thing this morning and keeps sitting on everyone else's eggs. As it's been a combined 10 hours over 2 days, what's the likely viability of these eggs hatching if I put them under her? Temps have been a minimum of 16°C/59°F and a max of 20°C/68°F.
I'll candle them tonight and look for signs of life, but wondering whether others have experienced something similar and what their outcome was.
