Barney has laid another egg today she has already had two clutches straight after each other and i wanted to take the boxes down for a few years, but she still has two chicks in there they do keep coming out the box, but i put them back to make sure they are ready. I have already put her dummy eggs in to try prevent any eggs, but went in just now and there was an egg, i dont know what to do for the best, i have heard that shaking the egg doesnt always work, and as some people boil or freeze the eggs, i wondered which is the best way to guarantee they wont go on to develop into chicks, i am planning to take down the boxes in the next few days. also i leave the light on all night which was to help keep them warm and also help when feeding the chicks for both hens, should i now turn the light off, will that help stop her wanting to lay? many thanks in advance for any advice i will be extremely grateful.

 

Love Dawn

Barney has laid another egg today she has already had two clutches straight after each other and i wanted to take the boxes down for a few years, but she still has two chicks in there they do keep coming out the box, but i put them back to make sure they are ready. I have already put her dummy eggs in to try prevent any eggs, but went in just now and there was an egg, i dont know what to do for the best, i have heard that shaking the egg doesnt always work, and as some people boil or freeze the eggs, i wondered which is the best way to guarantee they wont go on to develop into chicks, i am planning to take down the boxes in the next few days. also i leave the light on all night which was to help keep them warm and also help when feeding the chicks for both hens, should i now turn the light off, will that help stop her wanting to lay? many thanks in advance for any advice i will be extremely grateful.

 

Love Dawn

 

Dawn, Remove the eggs as she lays them and replace them with marbles or plastic eggs. When the chicks have fledged remove the hen and take away the nest box. She will be okay. Turn the light of at night. The hens can feed the chicks in the dark. How old are the chicks? They should be about 30 days by the time the hen starts the new clutch. 40 days is old enought for them to come out of the nest. Some people leave them in until 50 days. I took Tiny and Chirpy out at 40 days and had them in a cage of there own so I could monitor them to make sure they were eating and drinking okay. 10 days latter I place Tiny in the avary and Chirpy in the house. They are okay.

Do as Daz's says, don't bother with the real eggs just throw them away, it will not hurt her for this little while to continue laying, but it will harm her to have them hatch. Once the babies are out remove the boxes.

Hiya, thank you both so very much for your advise

Daz the chicks are 43 and 41 days old, i put the dummy eggs in with her about a week ago, to try prevent this, they have been coming out the nest for almost a week now, but i keep putting them back in mainly as it is cold over here, and im frightened they would die, but i will do like you said and just put them both in a cage and bring them inside then i can monitor their feeding habits, that way i can get the nestbox down.

 

 

Thanks again

 

Love Dawn