[kuru]

ok so i live in a house and we have a camper right outside that we used to live in and we kept it just in case we needed it again but anyway my cat practically lives out there and i go out there every day to feed and pet him

our neighbors have chickens that roam around the neighborhood scavenging for food every single day, i never go outside without seeing a chicken

yesterday a hen just waltz into the camper and laid eggs!! just. out of the blue and i dont know why she chose to lay them in there?

i dont wanna tell anyone bc i dont want them getting eaten ( but i cant take care of like 7 chickens by myself!! i dont know what to do

if anyone knows anything about chickens at all please help i dont want them to die

[eskielover]

Do they have a rooster or just chickens? If not, the eggs will NOT be fertile (no baby chicks). Even if they have a rooster it doesn't mean that the eggs have been made fertile either. At a certain point eggs can be "candled" to see if a chick is inside.

Running free like that is called "free range". Goid for the chickens because they can eat bugs & natural foods besides their chicken feed. Makes them healthier & their eggs healthier too.

Yes free range chickens lay their eggs whereever they feel it's safe & comfortable for them it they are not put in a coop at night for safety (we have tons of predators around here..raccoon, fox, possum, coyote). When they are free to lay their eggs whereever, finding them is like an easter egg hunt.

Hatching eggs without the chicken is not that easy. It takes a heat lamp & turning them. You would have to research what you would need to buy & do to accomplish that.

[kuru]

i do believe they have roosters

it's weird that she thought it was safe in there.. i mean there's a human and a cat (my cat has no interest in harming them tho)

is it safe to touch them? i know that some birds won't take care of their babies if they've been handled by humans.. i dont if chickens are like that though

[Sometimes psychotic]

She’s probably been laying there for a while...normally they lay 1 egg a day.

[kuru]

ive never seen any eggs in there.. and none of the chickens, at this point, have trusted me enough to come that close to the camper

[eskielover]

Number of eggs at one time depends on the kind if chickens. I have had them lay 4-5 a night. Usual is 1-2 but some breeds lay more than others.

I don't think chickens mind people handling eggs. Have known some people who have placed another chickens eggs under another hen who hatched them all. Sometimes it can depend on the hen's personality. Yep they do have individual personalities.

I would keep an eye on whether the chicken is actually brooding on the eggs ir whether she just layed them & left them. Would observe at this point. Eggs will not hatch if they are in fact fertile if the hen allows them to get cold. That is why people use heat lamps to hatch eggs instead of using the hen herself many times.

[lizardlady]

Eskie is right. Fertilized or not, if the hen is not sitting on the eggs they will never hatch. Eggs have to be kept warm to hatch. If she's just dropping the eggs and leaving them, there will never be any chicks.

[WishfulThinker66]

Yeah, if the hen isn't tending them you aren't going to see chicks. In the meantime, the eggs may be good to eat. Years ago I lived on a hobby farm with free range chickens, turkeys, and guinea hens (eggs were the best). I just cracked the eggs into a tall glass to determine if they were fertilised or not before using them.

[sarahsweets]

Your title sounds like the title of a Zucker brothers movie.

[kuru]

ok i havent seen her out there over the past couple days, but im only out there for an hour and a half every day, so she could've been going out there without me seeing. but then.. yesterday she WAS there.