- Mar 30, 2011
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I have staggered fertilized eggs under my Bantam, due to hatch soon, and they are peeping and chirping already. Two are due to hatch tonight/tomorrow, one the following day, and one the following day. They are not her eggs; they are the fertilized eggs of full-sized hens she grew up with.
Do you think she will abandon the eggs after the first two hatch, or do you think she will see all 4 eggs through to hatching?
Has anyone had experience with this kind of thing before? If so, I'd love to hear your stories.
I don't know whether I should plan to grab the first 3 chicks that hatch and take them inside under a heat lamp in hopes she will stay on the nest? Or whether doing so will make her mad and cause her to abandon the nest, looking for them?
What do you think?
Also, she is a first-time mother, a step-mama hen. Do you think the rambunctiousness of the new chicks could cause her to go crazy and try to peck some of them to death?
I am wondering whether I should plan to stay up all night with her, in case any of these bad scenarios should try to play out, in an attempt to fend them off?
Do you think she will abandon the eggs after the first two hatch, or do you think she will see all 4 eggs through to hatching?
Has anyone had experience with this kind of thing before? If so, I'd love to hear your stories.
I don't know whether I should plan to grab the first 3 chicks that hatch and take them inside under a heat lamp in hopes she will stay on the nest? Or whether doing so will make her mad and cause her to abandon the nest, looking for them?
What do you think?
Also, she is a first-time mother, a step-mama hen. Do you think the rambunctiousness of the new chicks could cause her to go crazy and try to peck some of them to death?
I am wondering whether I should plan to stay up all night with her, in case any of these bad scenarios should try to play out, in an attempt to fend them off?