Advice on letting broody hen hatch eggs

[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]

 

[bobbi-j]

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]

The last broody I had, I put in a big metal stock tank. I covered one end for her and her nest so she'd feel more secluded (most of them seem to like that), and put the food and water on the other end of the tank. I covered the tank with some old wooden lattice that I had leftover from a project to keep the cats out, and her in. In my opinion, it's good for them to be able to get off the nest to eat and drink, and poop. They're not off for long, and not very often. Roughly once a day. I'm not one to throw the broody off the nest to take care of business. (I think I might be afraid she won't go back on if I bug her every day)

 

[grammasmitty]

I am new to this. Our 12 hens and roo are just over a year old and one hen is very broody. Several hens use one particular nest (I always find 5-6 eggs there every day), but it is the nest where the broody sits. One day nearly 2 weeks ago I left 8 eggs there, marked them all with a marker. Have had to remove fresh eggs nearly every day since. The weather has been cool at night, 60s during the day, then plummeted a couple of days ago. Suddenly she was on those eggs all the time.

How much chance do you think they have of hatching? The other hens have switched to another nest for laying, so they are not a problem. I figure if there will be chicks, they will appear about April 26-27. If we go beyond that, I'll pick up a couple of chicks from the local feed store and reward her for her efforts. Just hoping we get some of our own.

 

[mcd311]

I had this same situation with success. 4 chicks just hatched out April 6th.
I ended up taking all the eggs and the broody hen and moved her to her own brooding box, so the other hens stopped laying eggs on her!
Currently I'm wondering if any of the other eggs will hatch as it seems she has given up and scattered the eggs all over the box :-/

Tempted to candle them and incubate indoors if I see any are growing inside.

If you are worried about the temperature drop, they should be okay...I just had a lady say she had success from refrigerated fertile eggs
All mine were outside under the mama when we had the temps drop below freezing for a week. Central Louisiana.

 

[mcd311]

PS: I'm not sure the age of the other eggs, as I had marked the original eggs to hatch and she pushed them all out of the nesting box (she did not like the marks), and the other hens laid new eggs on her from the time I had stopped collecting. It was a mess so I separated her and the pile she was sitting on (about 14 eggs) she continued to push some eggs out from the pile (she must have known they wouldn't develop), so I'm now wondering since she messed up the nest and all unhatched eggs, if that's her way of saying no more will hatch :-/

 

[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"

 

[grammasmitty]

That gives me hope! The other hens are leaving her alone and we now get several eggs from another next on the other side of the coop. As far as I know, she has not left the next for more than a few minutes here and there. Definitely never when I've been out to check. I left her with 8 eggs, but she may have added another 1 or 2. Not worried about the numbers now. She doesn't want to be bothered by us, so we leave her alone except to give her a little grain or fresh veggie in the box. Hubby will need to make a box to put on the floor when there are chicks. Her nest is about 18" high.

As I said before, if 3 weeks goes by and no chickies appear, I'll buy a couple for her to raise. I am getting excited now.

 

[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.