Another hen went broody, can I put eggs that are 12 days incubated under her?

[roberta7saturn]

I have an australorp that is 12 days into her 21 days on her 7 eggs. My little bantam went broody again, after just a few weeks being broody herself and raising her chicks. Can I give her a couple of the eggs from the australorp just to let her get on with it. I don't want to break her bc she's a wonderful mother, but I don't want more chicks right now. I was afraid she may not care for them if it wasn't the 21 days. Thank you in advance, I couldn't figure out how to search for this particular issue.

 

[drumstick diva]

I think it would be alright go give her a couple eggs from the other broody but, after that she needs rest. Broodies can get run down fast when they recycle so often. They need some "alone" time even though their hormones keep urging them on.

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome BYC. It may be better to break her broodiness, since you don't want more chicks. Type "broody buster" in the search box if you need guidance on how to do this.

Best wishes
Ct

 

[shortgrass]

I have an australorp that is 12 days into her 21 days on her 7 eggs.  My little bantam went broody again, after just a few weeks being broody herself and raising her chicks.  Can I give her a couple of the eggs from the australorp just to let her get on with it. I don't want to break her bc she's a wonderful mother, but I don't want more chicks right now.  I was afraid she may not care for them if it wasn't the 21 days.  Thank you in advance, I couldn't figure out how to search for this particular issue.

Yep, sure can, especially if she's experienced at brooding; I have 2 (1 bantam and1 LF) cochins that are always doing just that, rotating extra eggs... They are my best broodies, so I give them eggs out of another hens nest and leave the first timers with just one or two eggs. (I break my layers when they go broody by just putting them in a separate coop that has no layers and no eggs; voila, a week with no eggs breaks them pretty easily) My Cochin are specifically for brooding, so that's all they really do. They'll even take a fresh chick, no egg hatching required, but I like to at least give them a couple days of setting so they "feel accomplished" haha, they do fine without setting the full 21.

What really comes in handy is when I end up with a staggered hatch, I can put the extras in with them so the new mom can go ahead and take the brood off the nest and the extras go under the second broody for the last few days so they all have a chance to hatch, and in the meantime, my Cochins still get some babies out if it without having to set repeatedly.

If they hatch all on the same day, though, you might have things ready to separate the 2 if they show signs of aggression towards each other or confusion over whose chicks are whose; I've had to seperate on several occasions when one broody becomes dominant and will steal or even kill the other broodies' chicks. (That was a nasty Wyandotte that has since been culled)..

Or you can break her; I don't have the heart to break my Cochins from brooding; they're just so happy and such good mothers, and they don't lay very well anyway lol, so that's their sole job, brooding... its entirely your call

Best wishes on your hatch(es)


Edit to add*
I just noticed your broody is an Australorp... watch her close if she's a new broody. It might just be paranoia from a bad hatch, but I recently had an Australorp go broody, so I put 8 Guinea eggs of my moms under her; she hatched them fine but smothered 6 of them the first night. Awful circumstances; I don't want to make you fret, but just maybe a general warning that some breeds just are not great broodies. Even if they do set them they may not know what to do when the chicks hatch .. just FYI to keep a close eye

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[roberta7saturn]

Thank you for the advice on that. I think I will give her a few eggs since she will only have to sit on them for a week. I think I will give her a break the next go around if she wants to brood again. She's more of a pet chicken for us, and I don't want to see her stressed out by continuing to go broody.

 

[roberta7saturn]

I will be keeping an even better eye on her now. We've only had our bantam go broody. But we have several broody breeds so I figured it was only a matter of time. Our bantam will let us look under and is never aggressive, but this australorp is more reserved and doesn't want any human lovins. lol It didn't even cross my mind they could smother the babies.

 

[Amy Wallace]

This should be fine. I actually have had a hen kick another hen off the eggs halfway through breeding and she took over.