Borrowed eggs & broody hen. Help !

[DepotMudilk]

I have a hen who has gone broody and not left the coop for 2-3 days that I've seen. She has access to water & food. I do not have a rooster and collect the eggs every day. Instead of trying to break her I am picking up fertilized eggs today from someone with a rooster. These eggs have been in their nesting box for the better part of a week. Will they still be viable? Also with the summer heat it has been in the 90s. How can I tell if they've spoiled? I do not want an explosion underneath her. Is there a proper way to handle the eggs? I have a large coop & my plan is to bring a large dog crate into the coop with a nesting box inside along with food & water to separate her. Once it gets closer to time of hatching should I keep it closed to keep the chick's safe from the other hens? I also have a duck who lives with the flock. There is a mesh type barrier around the bottom half of the crate to prevent chicks from running through the bars should I have any chicks. Any advice is greatly appreciated !

 

[GitaBooks]

Broodies naturally leave eggs for up to a week while laying them, as they don't set until they have a whole clutch, so your eggs should be okay if they are under 10 days old. However, the high temperatures may have caused a problem. I'm not sure.

Penning her up is a good idea, since it prevents other chickens laying in her nest and causing problems. Make sure she has 5-15 minutes to get off the nest, use the bathroom, and stretch each day. She may not do it every day, but give her the opportunity. Make sure the food and water aren't too close to the nest, so she has to get up to reach them.

When the time of hatching comes, I would close up the crate. I then move them, when they are all hatched, to a pen where my broodies stay until their chicks are nearing fully feathered, so that my other chickens can't injure them.

Best of luck!

 

[DepotMudilk]

Great advice ! Thank you. She happily accepted all 9 eggs and shuffled them through her wings. If she refuses to eat or leave the nest should I take her outside of the coop each day for a few minutes? & is it sbout 21 days from today that they hatch or from the time each was laid?

 

[GitaBooks]

In the wild the hen lays a large number of eggs but needs them all to hatch on the same day. Because of this, she won't sit on them until all of them have been laid. They don't start developing until the mother starts to brood them. It should be 21 days from when she started sitting on them to the hatch.
Your mother hen may not want to leave for a few days, and this isn't to worry. Disturbing her from the nest could break her up and cause her not to want to sit on them anymore.

I'm glad she took to the eggs!

 

[DepotMudilk]

Thank you! I have not seen her budge an inch. Can you take them off the nests for a few minutes at a time to encourage her to eat & drink? How long can they stay off the nests and the eggs be OK

 

[GitaBooks]

Thank you! I have not seen her budge an inch. Can you take them off the nests for a few minutes at a time to encourage her to eat & drink? How long can they stay off the nests and the eggs be OK

How long a hen can stay off depends on the weather. If its really cool sometimes they stay on, if its really hot they may get off twice in one day and stay off for 20 or so minutes!
Taking a hen off the nest can work for calm breeds like silkies, but for other breeds it can make them think their nest has been destroyed and they won't return to it.

 

[Percheron chick]

She will get off and eat and drink when she needs to. Leave her alone. That's the best way to break eggs.

 

[DepotMudilk]

Well she left the nest for a little over an hr. Ate, drank & took a couple of dust baths. I read that some hens have left the nest for hrs at a time and eggs still hatched. I'm assuming with the heat outside the eggs will be ok. I guess time will tell !

 

[DepotMudilk]

Today is day 8 and I found a broken egg under the hen ! I'm not sure if it was fertile or not but when I was trying to clean it up she starting eating it ! Is this normal? She had a little yolk on her chest and some of the eggs have yolk on them. Should I try to clean them some how or leave them alone?

 

[GitaBooks]

I've had problems with broken eggs. Just us a damp (not wet) cloth to wipe off the eggs so that they won't grow bacteria and so the pores can breath.
Hens naturally love the taste of broken egg, but they may become egg eaters if they do acquire a taste for them, so try to prevent it if you can (sometimes its impossible, those hens are fast!).