what if the eggs weren't fertile

[hennotrooster]

My 1 year old black star hen went broody on May 15th her eggs are due to hatch June 4th or 5th. I am not sure that all her eggs if any were fertile. This is new for us never had a hen go broody we have one roo and 12 hens. She has been sitting on 6 eggs and is a really good mama. We just left her in the nest box she picked, supplied her with food/water, let her out twice a day till she was ready to re-enter the nest and made sure the other hens could not get in with her. Love her Darth Vader entrance back to the nest. My question is if the eggs were not fertile (nothing hatches) how will this affect my hen? Does she know when the time is for them to hatch? What do we do for her? Please advice the chicken journey is always new and educational here.

 

[gamebirdsonly]

Depends on the hens. I have some that just would not give up and others that new the eggs weren't going to hatch and they would just stop setting.

 

[hennotrooster]

Should we remove the eggs if not hatched by say Friday or Saturday?

 

[gamebirdsonly]

I would give the eggs up to 3 days after the due date.

 

[hennotrooster]

Went out yesterday morning and there were two beautiful black-star/turken chicks (roo is a turken) and one black-star. A fourth hatched later in the day. The last one to hatch seems to be weak this morning fed it what I could, it's very lethargic just lays there under mama's wing. This is a first for us and I am so excited about them. Sadly we had the neighbors dogs coming onto our property and the killed five of our girls so this is really nice to see happen. Thank you for your advice and if the last two do not hatch in the next couple of days they will be removed.

 

[donrae]

I wait until the hen leaves the nest to show the babies where to eat and drink, usually a day or two after the first chick hatches. Then I clear out the shell debris and any unhatched eggs at that time.