I posted the other day about a GREAT idea I had. My Friend has hens laying plenty of eggs….but she can’t get one of her hens to hatch any eggs for her. My difficulty has been getting the hens to lay more than 2 or three eggs a day all season long. Maggie Mae decided to try to hatch one little lonely egg.
My great idea was to sneak eggs from my friends coop up under Maggie Mae and let her hatch eggs for me and my friend. After all three weeks worth of sitting on an egg should pay bigger dividends. She should have a bigger batch….make it worthwhile….at least in my opinion. Of course I am the kind of girl that would have been tickled to have had twins! The more the merrier.
My wheels were turning….I concocted a plan…..and implemented it.
It all worked just as I had hoped….I retrieved nine eggs from my friends coop and took them straight to my coop. I put feed in the feeder, Maggie Mae got off the nest to eat a bite and grab a drink of water. Meanwhile, I quickly put my friends eggs along side the three others that Maggie was on. Maggie started with only one egg, but every few days I would sneak a freshly laid egg from one of my other hens, under her as well.
I was so proud….YES, 12 beautiful eggs….and all she had to do was sit on them.
She never missed a beat. She ate and drank and went right back up and sat down on them.
I was most pleased with myself!
She continued to sit on them….
Two days later…..I went to feed everyone. I noticed Maggie Mae was rearranging things….she was standing over the eggs…. on the board in front of the nesting box.
I was afraid that it was NOT going to have a good ending.
The next morning when I checked on the crew…..this is what I found.
Maggie Mae… looking sheepish……an egg on the board in front of her nest…..AND
evidence of an egg throwing party.
There she sat….as if to say…..I’m NOT stupid. I knew those were not mine….where DID you find them anyway?
At least that is what the look in her eyes was expressing…. She didn’t get up….so I had no idea how many eggs she discarded.
The next visit to the coop…she once again got up to eat while I was there.
That’s when I saw these four eggs.
I know she had three from our coop….so she must have saved one egg from the other hens. Well…. really I don’t know which eggs came from which coop. Then again maybe they are all from the other coop…. Who Knows. Maybe we will be able to tell once they are born. My friend and I have some of the same type hens…but then… some are different. I need to make a mental note….I meant to mark the eggs so I could see which came from which coop.
It really doesn’t matter to me, except I was trying to get my friend some chicks since she has been so gracious to share her eggs with us.
From what I read, sneaking eggs under a sitting hen is not unusual…..In other words I didn’t have an original idea by any means. Many other hen owners have done the same thing. It is believed that the hens can tell if the eggs are fertile or not. At least most of the time. They will often cull out the ones that are not. Sometimes a mother won’t sit on too many eggs, Although sitting on 12 to 15 happens frequently enough.
The more I read…the more I see that it is all trial and error. Nobody can say for certain what is going on inside that little bird brain of theirs. Anymore than they can tell what is going on in ours.
Whatever the reasoning….she has opted to only sit on four….I just hope it stays at that number. I would hate to see her continue to toss out eggs.
But then again, if they aren’t fertile we might be smelling a rotten egg after three weeks of sitting.
I have to admit….my bubble was busted a little….but her instincts are probably accurate.
Time will tell…….
Meanwhile the countdown continues!!!!!!
WOO HOO
I've Gone Country 