Will They Hatch?

[chad]

I've got 5 hens about 7 months old who just started laying. Today I discovered that one is setting a clutch of eggs in an old empty dog house we have. Here's the thing: She goes back to the coop at night and back to the eggs in the morning. Will the eggs hatch if she leaves them cold all night (here in Maine, overnight temps in teens and twenties)? Or should I just collect them when she's not looking and put them in the fridge?

 

[MissPrissy]

First off do you have a roo in with your hens? No roo and the eggs wo't hatch - but you should know this LOL

If she is leaving them all night in freezing weather I would have to predict they won't hatch at this rate.

How many eggs does she have in her clutch? You can check the egg to test if they are good or not but for me I would toss them and make sure I collected eggs for eating every single day. I don't cotton to fooling around with eggs that may or may not have started developing.

 

[cherndon712]

I would toss them, myself...I wouldn't wanna eat them if she's kept them warm, then they cool, then she warms them again...Personal opinion!

 

[chad]

First of all, our barnyard boss, Spike:

And thanks for the input. I'll chuck 'em. I didn't believe they'd hatch, but I keep learning things I didn't know about chickens, so thought I'd ask. (Though I did know that a hen and a rooster are required to make chicks...

)

 

[MissPrissy]

Hahahaha! Just checking! We have a lot of children in this forum and sometimes it is just easier to cover all the bases until you learn who you are talking to.

 

[chad]

I'm 54, I just act like a child most of the time...

Checked back later, it seems the hen is not setting the eggs, just using the dog house as her own private nest box. Not surprising, I raised them in there until they were big enough to go in with the older hens.