Hen Still on the Nest

[Spurhunter]

My cousin was bushhogging at the place we hunt in Columbus, MS late last week. He waited until after July 4th since that's the rule of thumb. He blew a hen off the nest with the tractor so he immediately left that area. He went back over the weekend on foot to see if she came back, and she was back on the nest. Looking at the poult pictures I've seen she must have been a late nester or maybe those eggs are not going to hatch.

 

[RUGER]

Cool.

 

[megalomaniac]

Probably either a jenny with her first nest, or an adult who has renested.

If the eggs aren't developing, the hen isn't going to sit on them. They have some uncanny sense of which eggs are good and which eggs are bad just a few days into incubation. They will even kick out the quitters mid incubation to get them away from the good developing eggs.

 

[Spurhunter]

Probably either a jenny with her first nest, or an adult who has renested.

If the eggs aren't developing, the hen isn't going to sit on them. They have some uncanny sense of which eggs are good and which eggs are bad just a few days into incubation. They will even kick out the quitters mid incubation to get them away from the good developing eggs.

Thanks for the information! Those were the kind of things I was wondering about.

 

[Andy S.]

Buddy of ours seen a hen on a nest in Hickman county this week. He flushed her and told us "she was sitting on a bunch of eggs".

 

[Gravey]

Passed a hen earlier today that had some tiny poults with her.

 

[Spurhunter]

Passed a hen earlier today that had some tiny poults with her.

Good that you passed her. Killing a hen with poults might mean the poults don't survive. Wait for a male or a hen without poults.

Sorry Gravey. I couldn't resist!