[manian]

ok 2 out of the 4 turkey hens have gone broody (they tend to lay together in one big nest).
we thought we would let them try and hatch (if charlie has done his job) i marked up 8 eggs with a pencil and my plan was to remove the others!!
well went to get them out today and there is 12 in the nest and the pencil mark has rubbed off!!!. the other 2 girls are laying and still want to lay in that nest with them rather than the other one we have made.

any idea what we can mark the eggs with that won't harm them

Mx

[Oneeyedhen]

Sorry I dont have any good ideas of what pen to use. I used a permenant marker but it was just to leave a couple of eggs in to encourage the hens to go broody. It worked one of them did and as they are quite flighty I left her in the nest box with six eggs. What I didnt realise was that the whole time she was there the others kept laying in beside her. I was still getting some eggs in the other nest box so just thought perhaps they werent laying so much. They were and broody hen got fed up and left after 3 weeks. There were 22 eggs under her, none of which had time to hatch   But you live and learn. Next time I'll try moving her and give her some peace and quite.
Good luck with the turkeys.

[little blue]

For Mrs Sussex, who nicked all the eggs she could & booted out the older ones (!) I marked thick crosses in pencil on opposite sides of the eggs.  I had to re-mark every couple of days, and they weren't exactly spotless to start with.

(She's now on your turkeys eggs!)

[doganjo]

I use one of these cd marking pens.  doesn't come off anything and not enough ink to be absorbed