I've got a salmon favorelle who's been brooding for 24 days. She's sitting on 16 eggs and on day 21 one hatched. Then one more on day 23. Now it's been 36 hours with no piping or additional hatches. Is it really possible that only 2 out of 16 were good? The eggs are brown and I can't see anything with candeling. Also, the hen is neglecting her chicks in favor of sitting on the remaining eggs. What do I do?
Welcome to byc. If she is not taking care of the chick then put it under a brooding lamp in the house. Is she a young bird that is sitting. I would leave her be i'm sure or maybe sure that she will know when to stop sitting unless she is a young bird and hasn't got the hang of things.
One more note: the eggs were all laid by my healthy pullets, I have a young and quite verile roo, and the hen has been a conciencious brooder. That's why this is so puzzleinformation.
Do you know that all of the eggs were the same age? If they are, you could wait another day until day 25 with the 2 chicks in a brooder, then slip the chicks back under her at night, and toss the eggs. But I wonder if any more will hatch. If they are of different ages, she will be sitting too long. My chickens usually get up off any eggs lest after 2 days to start taking care of the chicks.
Any chicks that you find that the hen is not taking care of, move to an inside brooder. I was just about to ask the same thing as Eggcessive; are the eggs different ages?
