wish me luck!

[madlentileater]

I posted a few weeks ago wondering where I could get hatching eggs- well I got just what I wanted but by the time they came nusiance hen stopped being broody
asked around thinking I moght locate a rboody or an incubator but nothing (and seemed daft to shell out for an incubatore to avoid wasting the few pounds I'd spent on the eggs)...so I thought, nothing ventured, I'll just stick them in the broody box that's in the run anyway and see what happens...lo and behold! new hen is sitting on them...one that easily goes broody and raised a few chicks last year.
So, very excited now! Eggs were resting for about 5 days while I dithered, but they should be Ok shouldn't they?
She's been sitting for a week now!
so, wish me luck!

Hi They can have a clutch of about 12 eggs or more and most chickens don't start to sit on them and incubate them until all the eggs have been laid so a wait of 5 days will fine. I had to ask this the other day and this is why chicks all hatch on the same day.

You might find that the hen will kick some of the eggs out of the nest, you can put them back under her but if she gets rid of them again it probably means that the egg isn't going to hatch. They seem to know whether there is a chick or not.

Good luck with it all, I love having chicks around