Well, i have a hen named Blondie who I have been fighting for several months now. She is always going broody, but our roosters were not old enough until recently, so we had no fertile eggs. Well, a week or two ago, long story short, I found her sitting on a nest under my carport. The worst nest I've ever seen lol. It was made of leaves, but not very many, and it was on asphalt. There were several broken and cracked eggs. Blondie is pretty fierce, she refuses to be bred by the roosters, so I knew chances of her eggs being fertile were slim to none. Our easter eggers however, are big pushovers. There were about 12 brown eggs under her and 3 green eggs. I did not know for sure how long they had been there, but it had been at least one week. I did not have high hopes for their fertility.
I took all the brown eggs and cracked them open, not one was fertile. I decided to take my chances with the green eggs. I put the 3 green eggs back under her, along with 9 more green eggs for a grand total of one dozen. Well, turns out every last one of them is fertile. I have them all marked so I know which 3 are older. These 3 older eggs should hatch somewhere around wednesday of next week if not a little before, the remaining 9 should hatch saturday the 19th.
My question is, should I remove those 3 chicks as soon as they hatch so that she will remain on the nest with the remaining 9 eggs? Has anyone had a staggered hatch like this that can give me any pointers? If push came to shove I'd rather lose the 3 than the 9, but I'd rather lose none.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
***UPDATE***
the one chick hatched today while I was at work, I was hoping the catch them while almost out of the shell, or still wet, but this one was already dry and fluffy, we promptly removed her from the nest.
What do you think the chances of her getting OFF the nest are, even with this chick removed? I just don't know if it was under her long enough to trigger her thinking she needs to get up and care for the baby, even if it is gone? Do you think she will sit on the remaining eggs until they hatch??
I took all the brown eggs and cracked them open, not one was fertile. I decided to take my chances with the green eggs. I put the 3 green eggs back under her, along with 9 more green eggs for a grand total of one dozen. Well, turns out every last one of them is fertile. I have them all marked so I know which 3 are older. These 3 older eggs should hatch somewhere around wednesday of next week if not a little before, the remaining 9 should hatch saturday the 19th.
My question is, should I remove those 3 chicks as soon as they hatch so that she will remain on the nest with the remaining 9 eggs? Has anyone had a staggered hatch like this that can give me any pointers? If push came to shove I'd rather lose the 3 than the 9, but I'd rather lose none.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
***UPDATE***
the one chick hatched today while I was at work, I was hoping the catch them while almost out of the shell, or still wet, but this one was already dry and fluffy, we promptly removed her from the nest.
What do you think the chances of her getting OFF the nest are, even with this chick removed? I just don't know if it was under her long enough to trigger her thinking she needs to get up and care for the baby, even if it is gone? Do you think she will sit on the remaining eggs until they hatch??
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} ) will be hatching my ameraucana's eggs and selling the chicks.
