I have a broody hen, and about 19 or so days ago, I stuck five eggs under her. I wasn't too confident in how well they'd hatch, as our rooster is only 4 months old, and he'd only been with the girls full time a few days.
This past week, I was out of town, and wasn't around to obsess on the broody hen.
Tonight, I went out to candle the eggs, figuring that I would be able to tell definitively if the 5 eggs that are a couple days away from hatching or good or not. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure they're NOT good. I figure if we're this far along, I may as well wait a couple days and see what happens.
This is the part where I need your opinions. Some sneaky chicken laid an egg in the hatching box while I was gone. I don't know exactly when, but I do know that I checked 7 days ago, and it was not there on that day. I decided to candle it, just for giggles. Definite veining, and I could actually watch the chick moving around!!!! OMG!!!! It was absolutely a keeper, and way more definite than the other ones were.
But, I'm afraid of just hatching one chick. Do I stick tomorrow's eggs under her, even though they'll they'll be several days behind the rogue egg? Or do I just wait to see if the first 5 eggs hatch, toss them on day 23 if they haven't, and let the broody finish hatching one single chick?
This past week, I was out of town, and wasn't around to obsess on the broody hen.
Tonight, I went out to candle the eggs, figuring that I would be able to tell definitively if the 5 eggs that are a couple days away from hatching or good or not. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure they're NOT good. I figure if we're this far along, I may as well wait a couple days and see what happens.
This is the part where I need your opinions. Some sneaky chicken laid an egg in the hatching box while I was gone. I don't know exactly when, but I do know that I checked 7 days ago, and it was not there on that day. I decided to candle it, just for giggles. Definite veining, and I could actually watch the chick moving around!!!! OMG!!!! It was absolutely a keeper, and way more definite than the other ones were.
But, I'm afraid of just hatching one chick. Do I stick tomorrow's eggs under her, even though they'll they'll be several days behind the rogue egg? Or do I just wait to see if the first 5 eggs hatch, toss them on day 23 if they haven't, and let the broody finish hatching one single chick?