Friday, August 6, 2010

No chicks yet

Our first setting hen was technically "due" today. I hauled her off her nest (squawk!) to check for any progress. She was down to two eggs and neither is showing any signs of hatching. We'll give her until Sunday to see if anything happens.


If these eggs turn out to be duds, we may test the hen's tolerance for another three weeks of sitting in one spot by slipping another six or eight eggs underneath her and seeing what happens.

All that hard work, wasted!

4 comments:

  1. Yes it certainly pays to check on them... Sometimes we would overlook a hen and one time we found one with a virtual mountain of eggs underneath her and the weight had broken some of the bottom and, well, it was a stinky mess. Had to watch that hen all the time cuz she hoarded eggs.

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  2. is there some way, maybe candleing, where yu can check to see if the egg is fertile...hey, eggs are starting to get expensive in the store so i would want to make sure that sucker is fertile before putting it back under the hen.

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  3. If a cowardly human is known as a chicken, does a cowardly chicken call herself a human? Just wondering....

    Anonymoust Twit
    Dazed and Amazed in Kootenai County

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  4. We've got a broody hen and some dud eggs ourselves. They were 'due' on the 2nd of August and the poor girl is still out in our woodshop trying to hatch them. I'm going down to our local critter auction on Monday evening to see if anyone has some chicks for sale. I know she'll 'accept' them because this particular hen will sometimes try to steal chicks from the other hens.

    Good luck with your hen!

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