Surprise fertilized eggs? Help please!

[galescrkchicks]

1 week ago give or take a day our Araucana went missing, well turns out she was hiding in a hallow root and laid 24 eggs! WOW what an awesome surprise. Well our silkie roo had been mating her, we didn't want to interfere so we are assuming they are fertile. We candled one and it seemed to be..We wanted her in a safe place so we gently moved her and her eggs into a bucket and into a pack n play...odd maybe? This is where we put all of our baby chicks before they are introduced outside to free range.

Well...that was a mistake. She has no interest in her eggs now. Every time I check on her she is standing on the ledge of the pack n play away from them, but still puffs out at us. This morning her eggs were warm so I'm assuming she laid on them, she does move them as well.

Do we do anything else or let her do it? Should we get a heat lamp on the eggs?

 

[JanO]

No, leave her alone. It sounds like she is going to settle down from the move and try to hatch them out, but she could still abandon them so keep an eye on her. If she does abandon the nest be prepared to put them in an incubator, if you have one. If you make any more changes she may decide that it's not worth the trouble because of constant interference from you and a heat lamp will just make her too warm anyway. Just make sure that she has access to food and water and let her do her thing if she chooses to stick it out.

 

[galescrkchicks]

She has abandoned the eggs.

Will they hatch if she hasn't laid on them all day long and we incubate them?

 

[wabbit1964]

I would suggest trying to incubate them anyway hopefully they hatch for you!!

 

[Mark Keister]

As someone told me on a previous post. If you dont try to incubate them you are 100% guaranteed total loss! Give it a shot, youve got nothing to lose