One of my hens just started laying on a nest ~1 week ago. We marked all the eggs there now and we'll wait to see if they hatch, but the rest we want to eat. Do I have gather them every day? How long is too long for her to lay on them before we pull and refrigerate them? Any cautions about eating them? And one of the most important questions, will we freak her out if we reach under her to collect the eggs? She sits on the nest just about all the time so it's hard to catch her when she's off of it. Thanks!
Inluminare, My hens tolerate any amount of handling, while setting or not. They have no choice! I handle them carefully and they do not mind. I need to know what is going on under there!!
By Cjeanr on Sunday, March 17, 2002 - 12:44 am:
It will be best for a successful hatch, if you can move her to another place, where the other hens cannot lay their eggs with the ones incubating! Just slip your whole hand under the hen, lift her up with the back of your hand, your palm down, and hold her there while you look under her and remove the fresh eggs with your other hand. If she squeels and pecks you, wear a glove on that hand. I have some hens that tolerate any amount of checking of their eggs. Others fluff up, bite and pinch until it hurts. They are only protecting their precious eggs, so just wear a glove and ignore the fierce attacks. It is important to check the eggs every few days. If an egg had a thin shell and breaks, it may ruin the hatch. It must be removed and any eggs covered with broken egg contents, must be washed, as it would prohibit air circulation through the shell, and the incubaing chick can sufficate and die. And clean nest material must be added and the warm eggs placed back in the nest. I also candle the eggs after 4 or 5 days of incubation and remove any that are not fertile--and so I know that all the eggs remaining may be expected to hatch. Write on your calendar when the chicks are due, so you can be prepared for the advent of the brood. Don't be afraid of the hen--better not to be sorry that you did not check her during incubation of the eggs. It is so exciting, and I hope that you will have successful hatch. CJR
Just as an aside: yesterday a little hen started to set on 2 eggs in her nest. Today she moved to another nest box that had 5 eggs in it. None of these eggs are ones I want to hatch. The day I want to start her hatch, I will remove the eggs from whichever nest she is in, give her 6 eggs of my choosing that I have saved, and move her nest box and all to another location, so she will not have another choice of nest and eggs to set on and leave her eggs to chill! This has happened just a couple of days before hatch was due, some years ago--we learn the hard way. I think I have experienced most of the trauma of hatching and raising chicks! No excuse for a second time of tragedy!