20 eggs in the clutch....what do I do?

[Mooliejones]

Hi All,

I have a clutch of eggs hidden in my garden added to by 2 hens. Neither seem to sit longer than to lay their egg each day. At what point do I assume they are not going to sit and dispose of the eggs? I was hoping 1 was going to go broody and have our first chicks. Do I give up yet? One of the hens is moving the eggs around each day as they are always in a different formation when I check to see if any more have been laid or any hen sitting. Any help gratefully received :0)

 

[Art_plus_chickens]

I think it's normal for most hens to wait to sit until they feel their clutch is big enough (from a wild bird viewpoint) but I'm not sure. I'd think they'd want to sit with that many and It sounds like maybe at least one is trying since the eggs are moved which would mean they're trying to shove all the eggs under her.

I'm not sure though. I'd like to follow along

 

[A.M. Eggs]

You will know when a hen is broody. Sounds like neither of them are. If a hen sits on them for a few days and you only see her like once walking around, shes broody. If you go over to her and pet her while she is sitting on the eggs constantly and hear her growl, shes broody. If she appears fluffed up randomly while walking around, she's broody or about to be. Hens are tricky, but they will tell you.

 

[Mooliejones]

 

[A.M. Eggs]

You need to pick those up! If it hasn't rained since they began laying there then you can maybe still eat them.

 

[Mooliejones]

Should I give it a bit longer then or is 20 too many anyway?

 

[A.M. Eggs]

Too many! The hens can't fit them all under them. When I have a broody, I only give 6-8 eggs to her. This makes her life and my life easy.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

20 is too many. My very fluffy LF Ameraucana is sitting on 12 and having some trouble keeping them all under her.
Generally speaking, it's not good to leave all those eggs there either. They can get rained on, eaten by snakes, cracked and generally go bad. A better solution may be a small pile of fake eggs and take the fertile ones away until a chicken decides to go broody. After a chicken goes broody you can slip in at night, take the fake eggs away and put in as many real eggs as you think they can handle. (Mark your fertile eggs with a pencil before you set them under the hen.)

Some chickens will literally never go broody though. You may have a very long wait indeed. And having perfectly good eating eggs sitting on the ground going bad won't help them go broody.

 

[A.M. Eggs]

Most of my hens are broody because I got some chicks recently. They heard them and are now broody. I had one hatch 7 babies a month ago, 5 girls (YES!) and two boys. I have to find a spot for my other broodies though. (I have 4 others )

 

[Mooliejones]

20 is too many. My very fluffy LF Ameraucana is sitting on 12 and having some trouble keeping them all under her.
Generally speaking, it's not good to leave all those eggs there either. They can get rained on, eaten by snakes, cracked and generally go bad. A better solution may be a small pile of fake eggs and take the fertile ones away until a chicken decides to go broody. After a chicken goes broody you can slip in at night, take the fake eggs away and put in as many real eggs as you think they can handle. (Mark your fertile eggs with a pencil before you set them under the hen.)

Some chickens will literally never go broody though. You may have a very long wait indeed. And having perfectly good eating eggs sitting on the ground going bad won't help them go broody.

Thank you :0)