Possible broody: fertilized eggs?

[mountainchickens]

Hi! We have a hen who's around 11 months old. She went broody last April and adopted three chicks. Now, apparently, she may be broody again. We are away (getting back soon) and we're just hearing about this from our house sitter, but they say she is making a low clucking when she gets out of the nest and has been in it for a few days now.
We have a cockerel who's around three months old. When we left, he was attempting to mate the older hens, but failing. He isn't crowing yet. Is there a definitive way to check if any of our possible broody's eggs are fertilized? How early can we candle?
Also, I'd love suggestions for the number of hatching eggs to get if she is broody. We have 3 hens (the cockerel is going to have to be rehomed soon) and room for 5-6 more.
Thanks!

 

[DobieLover]

Hi! We have a hen who's around 11 months old. She went broody last April and adopted three chicks. Now, apparently, she may be broody again. We are away (getting back soon) and we're just hearing about this from our house sitter, but they say she is making a low clucking when she gets out of the nest and has been in it for a few days now.
We have a cockerel who's around three months old. When we left, he was attempting to mate the older hens, but failing. He isn't crowing yet. Is there a definitive way to check if any of our possible broody's eggs are fertilized? How early can we candle?
Also, I'd love suggestions for the number of hatching eggs to get if she is broody. We have 3 hens (the cockerel is going to have to be rehomed soon) and room for 5-6 more.
Thanks!

It's unlikely that the eggs she is sitting on are fertile. Has the house sitter been collecting them?
If she went broody before and you successfully grafted day-old chicks to her, you can give it a go with fertile eggs. I had a 75% hatch rate with the 4 eggs I gave my first time broody. I think I have two pullets and a cockerel.
How high up in the pecking order is this girl? That makes a difference to me in how many eggs I'd allow her to set. The more eggs she hatches, the more chicks she will need to protect. She can do that a lot easier if she was high ranking when she went broody vs the lowest girl on the totem pole.
You may also just want to try to increase your flock by 2 or three at this time then do it again later or next year to add a few more pullets. Assume you will have roughly a 75% hatch with 50% being cockerels and you want, let's go with 3 chicks you will keep. I would give her 8 eggs. 8 eggs at 75% hatch will yield 6 chicks, half of which will theoretically be female.

 

[mountainchickens]

It's unlikely that the eggs she is sitting on are fertile. Has the house sitter been collecting them?
If she went broody before and you successfully grafted day-old chicks to her, you can give it a go with fertile eggs. I had a 75% hatch rate with the 4 eggs I gave my first time broody. I think I have two pullets and a cockerel.
How high up in the pecking order is this girl? That makes a difference to me in how many eggs I'd allow her to set. The more eggs she hatches, the more chicks she will need to protect. She can do that a lot easier if she was high ranking when she went broody vs the lowest girl on the totem pole.
You may also just want to try to increase your flock by 2 or three at this time then do it again later or next year to add a few more pullets. Assume you will have roughly a 75% hatch with 50% being cockerels and you want, let's go with 3 chicks you will keep. I would give her 8 eggs. 8 eggs at 75% hatch will yield 6 chicks, half of which will theoretically be female.

Thank you!
The house sitter has been collecting the eggs, yes. She is pretty high up in the pecking order, and was higher up back when we had more - there was one point where we had 3 cockerels and she was ranked above 2 of them. She even terrifies our cats! I'm pretty sure she's always been in the top two.
Eight eggs sounds good - the only problem is, she went broody a few days ago and we're getting back in about six days. We'd have to keep her sitting on the eggs for three weeks after they arrived, which would be after we got back. Is that too long to keep her sitting? Is maybe adopted chicks again a better option?
Last time, she adopted the chicks at a little over a week old. She'd been broody for two weeks, ish. They took a few days to learn to listen to her, but after that they were a happy family.
Thanks again!

 

[DobieLover]

Thank you!
The house sitter has been collecting the eggs, yes. She is pretty high up in the pecking order, and was higher up back when we had more - there was one point where we had 3 cockerels and she was ranked above 2 of them. She even terrifies our cats! I'm pretty sure she's always been in the top two.
Eight eggs sounds good - the only problem is, she went broody a few days ago and we're getting back in about six days. We'd have to keep her sitting on the eggs for three weeks after they arrived, which would be after we got back. Is that too long to keep her sitting? Is maybe adopted chicks again a better option?
Last time, she adopted the chicks at a little over a week old. She'd been broody for two weeks, ish. They took a few days to learn to listen to her, but after that they were a happy family.
Thanks again!

I wouldn't want my hen sitting on a nest for nearly 6 weeks. It's very hard on them.
I'd go with the adopted chicks again. Keep her on some fake eggs or golf balls so that when you do get some chicks to slip under her, she'll have been on the nest roughly 3 weeks.
Good luck.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Eight eggs sounds good - the only problem is, she went broody a few days ago and we're getting back in about six days. We'd have to keep her sitting on the eggs for three weeks after they arrived, which would be after we got back. Is that too long to keep her sitting?

Four and a half weeks? Not at all, if she's in good condition. I wouldn't go above six, though.

You can check for egg fertility by cracking open a few eggs and looking at their tops:

I would probably go with the adopted, sexed, day-old pullets route, depending on how much you like to deal with cockerels.

 

[mountainchickens]

Thank you! We'll probably go with the day-olds, and put golf balls under her till then. There's just one problem. It looks like the one who's broody isn't the one who was broody before - it's a different one of our 3 hens who has never been broody. What are the odds of that?
Anyways, I'm not sure exactly what to do. I can't vouch for her being good as a mother until she tries. I think we'll still go with day-olds, but it might be a bit harder. Is there anything I need to do to make sure her motherhood goes well? Thanks again!

 

[sylviethecochin]

Is there anything I need to do to make sure her motherhood goes well? Thanks again!

On the initial adoption? Beats me. The only times I've put chicks under a broody hen, she's already had eggs hatching. I was 100% successful every time, but the hens were prepared to accept chicks at that point.

On the second part, I've had good mothers and bad mothers. My advice is to keep them away from the flock until the chicks've latched onto the broody hen as "Mum" and to keep an eye on them for the first couple days.

EDT: Which you probably already know.

I try to count my brooded chicks every night with unproven mothers, and I keep a very careful eye on changes in the flock. (I had one broody scalp a new (eight-week) pullet who was put out to free-range.)

 

[goldies99]

It's unlikely that the eggs she is sitting on are fertile. Has the house sitter been collecting them?
If she went broody before and you successfully grafted day-old chicks to her, you can give it a go with fertile eggs. I had a 75% hatch rate with the 4 eggs I gave my first time broody. I think I have two pullets and a cockerel.
How high up in the pecking order is this girl? That makes a difference to me in how many eggs I'd allow her to set. The more eggs she hatches, the more chicks she will need to protect. She can do that a lot easier if she was high ranking when she went broody vs the lowest girl on the totem pole.
You may also just want to try to increase your flock by 2 or three at this time then do it again later or next year to add a few more pullets. Assume you will have roughly a 75% hatch with 50% being cockerels and you want, let's go with 3 chicks you will keep. I would give her 8 eggs. 8 eggs at 75% hatch will yield 6 chicks, half of which will theoretically be female.

my broody hatched 10 chicks....i only had 2 pullets!!!!,,,,talk about too many roosters!!!

 

[DobieLover]

my broody hatched 10 chicks....i only had 2 pullets!!!!,,,,talk about too many roosters!!!

Statistics dictate 50% male. You, my friend, should refrain from buying lottery tickets.

 

[goldies99]

Statistics dictate 50% male. You, my friend, should refrain from buying lottery tickets.

haaaaaa...best laugh i have had since i hatched!!!!!!!!