Hi all,

 

I have a hen sitting on 6 eggs for about 2 weeks now, three days ago she starting laying again, she now has 8 in there.

 

Although I have read lots I have no personal experience as this is the first clutch I have had. I can't tell whether the others are fertile or not so don't want to remove them.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Tracey

Have you/can you candle the eggs to see if they are fertile?

if they are see through and clear yellow then they are empty,

new eggs are clear pink in color.

if they are DIS then they are greyish white,

fertile eggs are opaque white and have weins inside.

sometimes you can even see heartbeat.

Hi Tracey,

When you say she has been sitting for two weeks, did she have six eggs two weeks ago or had she started laying then?

If she only started laying then she would be up to her eighth egg now.

As Vargur mentioned you can candle the eggs to check for fertility, this can be done in the nest with a strong small torch just one of those led torches do the job fine.

Cheers Jenny

Hi Jenny, She had six eggs 2 weeks ago, then a big break and started laying again. I'm guessing the old eggs are infertile but I now don't know which ones are which.

 

Vargur, I have candled them but they all look the same to me. If I understand correctly I won't see anything in the new eggs until 5-10 days, so I don't want to risk throwing out the wrong ones.

 

She has laid another one so that is 3 new and 6 old.

 

I guess I just leave them all in there for now.

 

Tracey

Edited March 13, 201312 yr by babychat

Hi Babychat, Is she paired up in cage or just in aviary? If she's paired up the new eggs should show signs of being fertile within a week. Could you mark old eggs so you can tell which are new ones? If she laid 6 in first clutch she may lay about the same this round. Old eggs could be going a dirty dark look if they aren't fertile they would be "off" by now.

Hi Robyn,

 

They are in a cage by themselves.

 

I am a bit nervous about handling the eggs to mark them. This is the first clutch I have ever had so am very, very new to it. I guess I will get more confidence as I go!

What sort of felt pen do you use? I keep reading non toxic but how do I know which ones are non toxic?

 

Thanks,

 

Tracey

Hi babychat just a fine point marker, the harmful ones have a x on them and say toxic.

You can pick the older eggs by the size of the air pocket at the round end of the egg.

As the egg ages the air pocket gets bigger because the shell is porous.

You should be able to see this when you candle.

 

Cheers Jenny