my broody hen has been sitting on nine eggs. I think I totally screwed up. she was in the main henhouse and one chick hatched on sunday night and another on monday. so yesterday, we started to worry that the chicks would be at risk around the other hens in the main henhouse.
that's how we got the apparently very bad idea to move her into our brooder. We had had another broody hen and her babies in there, so that's why we couldn't relocate broody #2 until after her hatch began. we were sad because a third baby was dead in the nest, only partially hatched with the shell still attached a little bit.
anyway, we moved the hen and her two live babies and the remaining six eggs into the brooder. I felt two of the eggs moving in my hand as we moved them. there were no pips.
well, the momma hen sat on her nest at first but then, last night, she was off of it and the remaining eggs were cold. then she sat back on it. then this morning she was off again. of course, none of the remaining eggs are moving. I can shake them gently and feel what is apparently heavy little bodies thudding against the walls of the egg. it's very sad. I won't open one to look inside. that would freak me out.
anyway...first, why didn't all of the eggs hatch at the same time and, why didn't the two moving eggs at least pip?
I think we totally screwed up this hatch. I feel so guilty. But that said, our other broody didn't get as many hatching (9/14) as we'd hoped. The remaining five were, again, that heavy body feeling thudding against the walls of the shell. Not sure why that is happening so much with our eggs.
Do you think it's possible that shells can be too thick and cause a problem? Not sure...
that's how we got the apparently very bad idea to move her into our brooder. We had had another broody hen and her babies in there, so that's why we couldn't relocate broody #2 until after her hatch began. we were sad because a third baby was dead in the nest, only partially hatched with the shell still attached a little bit.
anyway, we moved the hen and her two live babies and the remaining six eggs into the brooder. I felt two of the eggs moving in my hand as we moved them. there were no pips.
well, the momma hen sat on her nest at first but then, last night, she was off of it and the remaining eggs were cold. then she sat back on it. then this morning she was off again. of course, none of the remaining eggs are moving. I can shake them gently and feel what is apparently heavy little bodies thudding against the walls of the egg. it's very sad. I won't open one to look inside. that would freak me out.
anyway...first, why didn't all of the eggs hatch at the same time and, why didn't the two moving eggs at least pip?
I think we totally screwed up this hatch. I feel so guilty. But that said, our other broody didn't get as many hatching (9/14) as we'd hoped. The remaining five were, again, that heavy body feeling thudding against the walls of the shell. Not sure why that is happening so much with our eggs.
Do you think it's possible that shells can be too thick and cause a problem? Not sure...