I have a broody hen that has been sitting for way too long now...problem is that she is low on the totem pole and the other birds keep kicking her out to lay eggs in her nest. So, what started out as a 21 day sit has turned into much longer. She is looking terrible, but does get to eat and drink when she is kicked out of her nest. I have tried to move her to another nest, but it doesn't matter. So I candled her eggs yesterday cause I really wanna know how much longer this poor hen will be waiting. Found that 1 egg was no good (the oldest one). If I had known that this would happen I would not have taken eggs away the 1st week. So she sat for a good 2 weeks for nothing. Since 2 of those eggs were no good and I only let her sit on a few as I have enough chickens and too many roo's right now.
So my question.....1 egg that I candled has a nice size air bubble, but I dont see any signs of movement. There are 3 more eggs, but they are even younger and wont be ready until 4/19..poor girl has been sitting since before st pattys day. should I see signs of movement? The egg is a bantam and has been cold a few times, early in the incubation so I dont know if it will hatch. What do ya think?
I can only guess that the egg is within a week of hatching, as I like to learn the hard way...I started dating the eggs at the end of march cause there was so much flip flopping of nest boxes I figured I would be all confused and better put a date on them. so this one has no date (along with 2 others that were put there sometime in between 3/17 and 3/25).
my other wonder is....if none of these hatch...can I buy a chick and place it under her so she will get off the nest?
So my question.....1 egg that I candled has a nice size air bubble, but I dont see any signs of movement. There are 3 more eggs, but they are even younger and wont be ready until 4/19..poor girl has been sitting since before st pattys day. should I see signs of movement? The egg is a bantam and has been cold a few times, early in the incubation so I dont know if it will hatch. What do ya think?
I can only guess that the egg is within a week of hatching, as I like to learn the hard way...I started dating the eggs at the end of march cause there was so much flip flopping of nest boxes I figured I would be all confused and better put a date on them. so this one has no date (along with 2 others that were put there sometime in between 3/17 and 3/25).
my other wonder is....if none of these hatch...can I buy a chick and place it under her so she will get off the nest?
