hen layed 5 eggs.egg number 4 is 18 days today.

no eggs have hatched,what should i see if the eggs are held to a light, at this stage..

i did'nt check eggs after 7 days to look for veins.

I checked all the eggs under a light 4 were clear,one had a dark mass

at one end?

i would leave them for about another 2 weeks or so

 

my first baby hatched on day 21 so dont go taking out not sure on cheaking them some-one eles will be able to help you on that

i would just leave them as well i've had a few eggs i thought wouldn't hatch but they just took a little longer than the others

ones that were clear are infertile. The one with the dark mass sounds fertile, or has bacteria growing inside of it. But chances are it's fertile. So you need to leave all the eggs in the box. If you take the clear eggs out the hen wont continue to sit on the other egg. Hope it hatchs, good luck.

Not a breeder, but my eggs hatched 21 days after laying which is what the internet info said would happen.

yes 18 is only the average. it cana nd does take logner depending on how well the hen sat on the first lot.

i took one of the clear eggs out to look in side, it was infertile.

the next day the hen threw the over 4 eggs out.

so they do know if you take just one egg out.I didn't think she would notice.

But the others were infertile anyway.

I could of lost fertile eggs?just by taking one bad egg out.

So next time i shouldn't take any eggs out ,unless they are all infertile?

I would not touch the eggs unless the bird abandons the nest. Nature knows best

As a rule I do not take any eggs out as the female will remove any that are bad if the bird is experienced being her second or third clutch

I have had the bird sit on eggs with babies 3 weeks old next to them in this case check the egg and remove if clear

But really its best to let mother nature do her thing

Yeah you should have left them alone. The only time you take them out is if they all are infertile or she lays too many. One of my hens had laid 7 eggs in her first two clutches. Her first clutch only 6 hatched and one died because it was so small compared to the other babies. I think it was squished. Her second clutch she laid 7 eggs but one was laid out of the box and broke and two were thrown out of the box but the other hen who laid in the same nestbox. So the one hen ended up sitting on 9 eggs and only 6 eggs hatched again and 3 were infertile, Thankfully or she wouldn't have been able to feed them and I would have had to pull the oldest 3 at least to hand feed but there would have been no way for me to do that since I was going to school at the time.

 

Some hens can't take sitting on so many eggs so you have to switch with another hen sitting on less eggs if you can. With so many eggs she shouldn't notice 2 or 3 missing. My hen was able to sit on 8 eggs because she's half english and a pretty big bird.

Take them out if they are infertile is okay.

But if she lays to many you said its okay,but you have the same problem.

Take some out and she will throw the rest out,which might be fertile?

How many is to many?

one of mine has 11 eggs so far 4 have hatched

How many is to many?

 

It can be different with each bird, depending on it's size. You have to make sure she can cover all the eggs at the same time. I have some really small hens and 7 or 8 eggs would be max for them. But the one I have who is part english she had no problem sitting on 9. I don't think she could have sat on all 12 eggs that were laid (remember I said 3 from the clutch were destroyed).

 

I've seen some small english, they could very well be half or less. But I've seen some english that were as big as cockatiels and I don't think they would have a problem sitting on 15 eggs. Although it's rare a keet would lay that many eggs.