Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[coyotesmommy]

If you have a easy supply to fertile eggs, i would just chuck them and start fresh. They wont have developed a lot on day 3 and its too early to candle.

Here is a great site I found as a referance..http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...VaO0Zrdd0zUQyaL_A&sig2=2VD0U-n-cP0MG0a4EaExAA. I LOVE candleing it is my favorite part about having chickens I think... It is just amazing watching how FAST they develop. You should be able to see alot by day 4. I have a LED flash light and go into the darkest bathroom I have, about every 4 days is as long as I can wait to check them. Take your fertilized eggs and a kitchen egg to compare. You will see a very dark yolk that is your baby already growing. After day 4 you will know for sure which ones are duds and which are growing about day 8 or 9 you will see movement! It is really fun and you will get better as you go along. I have learned the hard way myself to throw out any cracked egg even if the chick is still developing... trust me it will get broken and you will end up with a big yucky mess. It has happened to me twice you think I would have learned my lesson the first time. Hopefully you can just wipe most of the gooh off with a dry or slightly damp rag.

 

[jesirose]

If I have hens that are a year old and I have never seen them go broody, does that make them unlikely to in the future? Or is there a chance they could if we don't collect their eggs?

 

[Johnn]

If I have hens that are a year old and I have never seen them go broody, does that make them unlikely to in the future? Or is there a chance they could if we don't collect their eggs?

What breed are they? My hens have never went broody until their second year.

 

[hotrodflash]

If I have hens that are a year old and I have never seen them go broody, does that make them unlikely to in the future? Or is there a chance they could if we don't collect their eggs?

Hens go broody when they are biologically ready to raise chicks, whether or not you collect eggs will not cause one to brood. What breeds do you have? Some breeds are more likely to go broody, some like the sex-link/production reds are geared towards egg laying and are less likely to go broody.

 

[Johnn]

Hens go broody when they are biologically ready to raise chicks, whether or not you collect eggs will not cause one to brood. What breeds do you have? Some breeds are more likely to go broody, some like the sex-link/production reds are geared towards egg laying and are less likely to go broody.

If you leave fake eggs or golf balls in the nest, it does encourage them to.

 

[chiqita]

Sorry. I missed this. You can do either. Leaving them is a bit less work. But mark anything you leave so she does not go crazy and they and sit on 50 eggs.

Should I take out the ones hat are obviously much newer than the original three or just leave them in until th others hatch and try to incubate them?

 

[CarolinaHen]

She is a nasty broody girl. There is no looking under her when she is on the nest if you want to keep your fingers. I've been collecting what I can find as soon as I find them, but I'm pretty sure she's still stealing. First ones are due to hatch in 4 days, so we will see what she does then.

 

[plumtownwingers]

I have two fuzzies. They are 1 day old. Mizz Grey finished the job, after diephy quit on day 10.

 

[jesirose]

Hens go broody when they are biologically ready to raise chicks, whether or not you collect eggs will not cause one to brood. What breeds do you have? Some breeds are more likely to go broody, some like the sex-link/production reds are geared towards egg laying and are less likely to go broody.

I was mostly thinking about my 1 black australorp because I saw them on the list at the beginning of this thread. We are getting a lot of Marans and I see they are good brokers so I will have to observe them carefully.

 

[caspernc]

Take a large cream cheese container or cottage cheese container and put over her head to collect any unwanted eggs.