-1yr old hen goes broody on 21 eggs!!

[floridagirl13]

This spring we got twin pullets from a neighbor. Yes twins, their momma hatched them from a double yolker. Crazy as that may sound. A couple months into laying one if the gals seemingly disappeared. After a couple weeks of not seeing her we found out she set up shop above a horse stall and had been stealing hay for her nest. When we finally figured out where she was we waited for her to come down to see how many eggs she had. 21 little green eggs under that little lady! Long story short, above a horse stall is no safe place to hatch chicks so we've refurbished an old aquarium into an incubator. She was up there for about 3 weeks when we removed the eggs so we are expecting barnyard beauty bantams any day now. Brooder is ready and waiting for them!

I think 21 eggs for a young ladies first clutch is outrageous, what is the largest clutch y'alls hens have ever layed on? And was anyone else ever had twins hatch from a double yolker before?

 

[chippysmom327]

Congrats on the broody! What breed? 21 is a bit much but she should be fine. Chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch. If she can't handle all of them you can always put some in a brooder.

 

[floridagirl13]

The hens & the rooster came from the same neighbor. I believe he called them jungle runners or something like that. The hens have gold feathers on their heads & necks the rest of their bodies have a sort of gray/brown dirt color. I will have to see if i can get them to sit still so i can get pics

 

[chippysmom327]

Red Jungle Fowl? 21 eggs is way too much. Take about 10 away.

 

[floridagirl13]

We've taken them all and put them in the incubator. The main reason we took them she just hopped down from the ceiling one day and never went back.The nest was in between the barn ceiling and hay loft floor above an occupied horse stall so it wouldve been bad news if they had hatched up there

 

[chippysmom327]

Hm. Don't let her brood in the future. I'm afraid she wouldn't be a very good mother. But I wanted to correct myself and say that RJL can only handle about 6 bantam eggs at most. Only about 3 LF eggs.