Found a nest, couple questions.

[River1]

A couple biology questions for ya.

I bumped a hen off her nest a few days ago. Had to check it out as this was the first one I've seen. She knocked a couple eggs out when she flushed, so I set them back in, trying not to disturb the nest. It had sixteen eggs, is it normal to have this many? Do they stay on the nest through the night or roost with the other birds? How long do they take to hatch?

 

[Maggs]

Hey RB Boy, Your post is identical to what happened to me last week. I bumped a hen and she spilled a couple eggs out. Counted and there were 16 eggs also. Have checked it several times since then and no hen. One of the eggs that was bumped out was scavenged but the others are untouched. Still were yesterday when I checked and still no hen. This is after 8-10 days of the original finding. Talked to my neighbor who works for the DNR and he says the # of eggs is normal and they lay them over a series of days. They don't start to incubate them until they're done laying all the eggs. Then they sit for an extended period of time which triggers the onset of development in all the eggs. Wierd huh? Looks like the one I found is abandoned for good though. Pretty wierd coincidence that the exact same thing happened to both of us. I'll be curious to see if your hen comes back. Maggs.