Advice on letting broody hen hatch eggs

[Angiebubs]

I am thinking of putting fertile eggs under my 2 broody hens...for the first time. I am wondering what advice all of you have? Some questions I have:

-Whats the best way to mark the fertile eggs so they dont get mixed up with daily egg gathering?

-Whats the opinions on leaving hen in coop with other chickens when raising chicks?

-Any other advice or learned lessons would be wonderful.

Coop situation: 13 chickens (1 roo) in a coop that is 10 x 20 with a run outside thats twice as big-so plenty of space.

 

[Ridgerunner]

-Whats the best way to mark the fertile eggs so they dont get mixed up with daily egg gathering?

I use a black Sharpie and make a circle around the egg so I can see the mark no matter how the egg is laying. If you are setting under two different hens, you might want to mark them differently so you know which egg goes where. It's not unheard of for a broody to steal eggs from another. If you start them the same day, this is obviously not as important.

You may hear from people horrified that I would use a Sharpie. They have read that the fumes will kill the chick inside. Obviously I don't believe that, but you can also use a pencil to mark them. Just use a soft leaded pencil. A #2 will work but a #1 is better. Sort of lay the pencil in its side and rub a pretty good line on the egg. If you use a hard leaded pencil, that line is really light and hard to see and can rub off.

-Whats the opinions on leaving hen in coop with other chickens when raising chicks?

Hens have been doing this for thousands of years and chickens are not extinct yet. Anytime you are dealing with living animals, bad things can happen, no matter what you do. I do think that adequate space is important. If the hen raises them with the flock, she will take care of integration issues. I had a broody wean her chicks at 3 weeks of age in the heat of summer and the chicks did OK with the flock. They still had pecking order issues, being at the bottom of the pecking order, but with adequate space, they managed.

If space is tight or you have a history of a hen that is overly aggressive toward the chicks, separation may be in order. But if space is tight, how are you planning on doing integration later?

-Any other advice or learned lessons would be wonderful.

Many people have two broodies hatching at the same time and don't have problems. But there are some things that can happen. I'm not mentioning these to scare you or tell you that you can't do it, but just so you can watch for certain things or maybe be proactive in preventing them.

If you set the eggs at the same time, that removes the problem of one hen stealing the others eggs and you getting a staggered hatch. But if one hen hears the other hen's chicks hatching, she may abandon her eggs and go to the hatching chicks.

Its possible two broodies will fight over the eggs or the chicks. Chicks or eggs can get damaged in these fights. Hens too, for that matter.

Occasionally one broody will kill the other hen’s chicks instead of trying to take them to raise. This can happen whether they are sharing a nest or in two separate nests.

As I said, many people have two hens broody at the same time and don’t have these problems. Often, two broodies can share a nest and hatch together, them work together to raise the chicks. I can’t tell you what will happen, just a few things that might happen.

Good luck!!!

 

[pinkyglory123]

I was just reading trying to see if there was any mention of hatch rates with mailed eggs but figured I will add what I have found when hatching under broodies....
First-I now seperate the broody with nest from the flock simply because I have found another hen often decides to brood in the same nest or other hens decide to lay there and eggs get broken or chicks killed. I move nest and all into a dog crate around two days before hatch day. There is nothing worse than a dead chick that managed to hatch and got stomped to death.
Second I usually keep hatch and mom seperate a week or so. Most of my broodies are silkies and they are excellent mothers.However I did purchase five wyandotte chicks that have to be the smartest chicks I have ever seen and worm their way between the wire of the dog crate, mix with the flock and go back in under the light to food and water. No issues with adults and chicks at all.
Third-if they are going to hatch-they are going to hatch, if not, they won't. I have had whole nests not hatch under a broodie with fully developed chicks inside. And I have had all hatch when it was fifteen degrees and all survived.
But I do think that hatching under a broodie gives everyone the best chance-and silkies so want to be mothers! Now my two naked neck hens each hatched one chick and could not seem to remember they had them. The naked neck rooster took over raising them and is a real Mr. Mom to all the chicks-no matter what age.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sorry I took so long to get back. I’ve had no problems with Sharpies. Otherwise I would not use them or suggest them. But if you are concerned, use a soft leaded pencil.

I have not seen eggs moved very much, but I have seen it once that I'm sure of. It wasn’t even a broody. An egg got laid on the ground in a tractor and was dirty. I was busy when I saw that and didn’t get it immediately. When I came back a couple of hours later, that dirty egg was up in a nest more than a foot off the ground. I don’t know which chicken moved it. I suspect the rooster but I’m not sure. But one of them picked it up and jumped up to the nest with it. That convinced me they can move them.

I can’t tell you what to do. I’m not in your circumstances with your goals and desires. Whenever you are dealing with living animals, things can go wrong, no matter what you do or which decisions you make.

I’m a little disappointed some others have not chimed in either with examples of problems or examples of no problems when they did this. I think the no problems would outweigh the problems. Some of the problems are not always that bad, though sometimes they are. For example, if two broodies fight over the chicks, usually no chicks are hurt and usually neither broody sustains any real damage. A fight is just something that might happen, and harm is something that might happen if they do fight.

You could put eggs under each broody, monitor the situation, and see what happens. You could break one broody and give eggs to the other. I would not leave one broody without giving her eggs to hatch. I’d never give just one egg to a broody. Sometimes eggs don’t hatch and she should be rewarded for her efforts. Two, maybe, but not one.

Most broodies are good mothers, but occasionally one is not. Some things can still go wrong even if you break one from being broody and depend on the other one. I don’t see this as one way is better than the other or one way is right and one way wrong. It’s just a decision you make that can go either way. As long as you have an idea of what to look for, you are better prepared to deal with it.

Good luck, whichever way you decide.

 

[grammasmitty]

WE HAVE CHICKS!!!

Our broody has been sitting for 23 days in a nest about 18" off the floor and I've been after hubby to have a box on the floor for her. He did it just this morning before going to work, lifted the whole lining from the nest then put mama on top of them. I checked 4 hours later and can hear at least 2 little ones peeping. She let me lift one wing and there are 2 more eggs cracking.

I feel like a gramma sitting in a waiting room now

 

[Angiebubs]

Hello!

Update to my posting from a year ago: I put eggs under my broody hens and seperated them into a priavte area-they all hatched and the two moms shared parenting..chicks would go back and forth in the brooder area between the two moms

The "babies" are now adults and beautiful hens/roos

 

[Angiebubs]

Here is one of the "Chicks"

 

[bobbi-j]

Ridgerunner has given you very good advice. In my experience, I've never had any luck with trying to let broodies set with the flock. Somehow or other, they always ended up with no eggs. They'd end up broken - my guess would be by other hens trying to get in the nest to lay. Other times, I've left them in the barn or wherever they chose to lay, and those eggs would disapper. So, I resorted to separating them. If I get a broody this year, I may try leaving her where I find her, just to see what happens. I like the idea of the chicks being integrated into the flock right away with the mama to protect them.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Do you wait until one of the hen nesty before give her eggs?

Yes, it is best to gather all the eggs you want her to hatch before you give them to her. Start them all at the same time so they should hatch together. Chicken eggs take about 21 days to hatch, though that can vary a couple of days depending on various things. I’ve had them hatch as early as after 19 days under a broody in real warm weather.

i gather the eggs for daily but i leave them on the counter in the house before i used them [eating them] can i gave some back to the first whole day after she sit on nest?

I always have a broody spend two nights on the nest before I give her eggs. I’ve had several that were just teasing me. They acted broody but really were not. She has to prove to me that she is serious before I give her eggs.

You can store eggs for a week or more on your counter and they will still hatch as long as conditions are not too bad. If it is above 80 degrees, they can start to develop a little so it needs to be a little cooler than 80 degrees Fahrenheit. If you keep them more than a week, you should turn them. A hen cannot count days, so you are not in a rush to get eggs under her. You can wait a week or more if you need to.

when can i candle the egg to see if it is ferite?

I usually wait at least until after 7 days of development. Usually by then you can see veins. But don’t get in a rush to throw them out if you don’t see clear veining. Sometimes, especially with brown eggs, it can be hard to see. I wait until at least 14 days to toss any. By then, you should be pretty sure.

how long does it take to hatch an egg under a chicken?

In theory, 21 days. But there are a lot of things that can affect that. If the average incubating temperature is a little warm, they can be quite a bit early. If it is cool, they can really b elate. Other things that can affect them are heredity, size of the egg, humidity, and how you store them before you start incubation. As I said, I had some hatch after 19 days under a broody. I was on a trip and thought I’d be back in time for the hatch. I blame that mostly on storing the eggs a little too warm, but they were also those little pullet eggs. I think them being small for the breed was also part of the problem.

One problem you probably had was that they had more eggs than they could cover. You need to mark the eggs you put under them and check under a broody every day to remove any new eggs. If they get so many eggs they cannot cover them all, some will cool off and die. Then those eggs get moved back under the hen and another egg gets pushed out to cool off and die. Other hens will keep laying with them a lot of the time so you can get too many eggs. You need to check under them daily.

 

[sunflowerenvy]

Ridgerunner - I'm certainly not trying to be argumentative. Just sharing my experience. The only snakes we have here are garter snakes, and I've never seen one near the chicken coop. The ones in the barn are relatively unprotected, so who knows what could happen? If I get a broody in the coop this year, I think I'm going to give it another try. I'm already incubating 37 eggs (Pretty sure 31 of them are good, not sure of the others), and will be getting 25 chicks in the mail, so I'll have plenty if it doesn't work.
Sunflowerenvy - It should work to take them off your kitchen counter and give them to a broody, if you're positive that you have one. There is no point in trying to give them to one who isn't. Last time I had a broody, I know because she was on the nest every time I went to pick eggs, and was very feisty with me when I'd check under her. I'd give it a couple of days at least to be sure. I've never candled eggs when a broody is on them. I just let her be. Last time, I had no idea they weren't fertile until she'd been setting for 24 days and nothing hatched. I went to the farm supply store and bought her some chicks, slipped them under her at night and took the eggs. When I cracked them open, none had developed. If you want to candle, I'd wait until day 7 - development is so obvious by then. It takes approximately 21 days to hatch under a chicken, just like with an incubator. I prefer using a broody because you know that the conditions will always be ideal for hatching. If the eggs are fertile, there's a good hatch rate. The advantage to an incubator is, you can thatch them when you want them.

thank u for reply back
my hens are not broody yet [but i am wishing] i wont candle them just have to wait smile back do u put food/water in the nest box for them or let them get up to get there own food/water [24hours a day]