So, I have this huge red star hen who is three years old. She is disasterously dumb. She can't ever seem to find gates, runs into things, tries to eat her shadow, etc. Even for poultry she is just not bright.
Anyway, a month or so ago she went broody. I did not trust that she would be a good mother, so I ignored her thinking she would quit. It was super annoying because she would not let any of the other hens into the nest boxes to lay and I started having piles of eggs in weird places, so I finally moved her to a pen in my garage just so my other girls could lay in peace.. and I gave her a few eggs to shut her up. She ended up surprising me by sitting really well and now has three eggs at 20 days.
When I got home today she was sitting NEXT to her nest. She doesn't seem to have abandoned it, she still isn't walking around and she is just staring at the eggs and looking grumpy. We have had an unusually hot few days and I am wondering if somehow she sensed that the eggs were getting overheated. However, it's super dry here and I know they need humidity..
I picked an egg up to see if it was cold, and I felt pecking. They are so close I hate to let them die when they made it so far. I have an incubator-- should I just move them into it? Or should I try to do something to increase the humidity and just let them sit out in the open like they are? I can try to move the hen and the eggs somewhere cooler to see if she'll sit again, but she's so dumb I think it would stress her out a lot to be moved.
Any opinions appreciated
Anyway, a month or so ago she went broody. I did not trust that she would be a good mother, so I ignored her thinking she would quit. It was super annoying because she would not let any of the other hens into the nest boxes to lay and I started having piles of eggs in weird places, so I finally moved her to a pen in my garage just so my other girls could lay in peace.. and I gave her a few eggs to shut her up. She ended up surprising me by sitting really well and now has three eggs at 20 days.
When I got home today she was sitting NEXT to her nest. She doesn't seem to have abandoned it, she still isn't walking around and she is just staring at the eggs and looking grumpy. We have had an unusually hot few days and I am wondering if somehow she sensed that the eggs were getting overheated. However, it's super dry here and I know they need humidity..
I picked an egg up to see if it was cold, and I felt pecking. They are so close I hate to let them die when they made it so far. I have an incubator-- should I just move them into it? Or should I try to do something to increase the humidity and just let them sit out in the open like they are? I can try to move the hen and the eggs somewhere cooler to see if she'll sit again, but she's so dumb I think it would stress her out a lot to be moved.
Any opinions appreciated
