another newbie...

[chickie07]

My chickens have started laying eggs this week. YEA!!!! I have 9 hens only three that are old enough to lay and 1 rooster. How long should I wait until I try to let the hen set the eggs and get chicks. Can I do that now or should I wait till she has been laying for a period of time. I live in houston, texas and we have very high humidity and it feels like 105 today and will be that way for several months. I have not seen the hen on the nest, and really dont see the point to it except for turning the egg and setting it at night when it goes down to 88 degrees..

What do you think?

Thanks
Tori

 

[Kittymomma]

You can't just leave the eggs and have the hens sit. A hen has to go broody before she'll sit on eggs and hatch chicks. Some breeds are very likely to go broody and with others it's very rare. In any case when a hen decides to brood she'll do it whether or not she has eggs, a couple of months ago I had three hens sitting on nothing but shavings.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Hello and Welcome... That decision is truly up to the hen! what kind is it? I have some hens that want to hatch out babies every month and others that for years have not sat on a nest longer than to lay an egg.

 

[chickie07]

These are the ideal poultry hens the white ones with the black tips on their wings. I don't remember exactly what I was told, they told me that they were the ideal poultry 192 or something like that.

Sooo I need to bring in the eggs and put them in the fridge??

I don't have an incubator...

I'm definately a newbie. Thought the hen took care of everything...

Thank you for the replies.

 

[Kittymomma]

Yep, bring your eggs in and enjoy them. If you want a broody hen get yourself some Buff Orpingtons, Black Australorps, or go with one of the bantam breeds, especially silkies. I don't have any silkies, but have heard that they are crazy broody. I also have a few Easter Egger hens and two of them go broody, but they are basically a mutt chicken that carries the blue egg gene so it's a bit of a crap shoot as to wether they'll go broody or not.

You've come to the right place for all things chicken so spend some time browsing around on this site and learn as much as you can about your new hobby/addiction.

 

[gryeyes]

That's okay, we were all newbies at one time! I remember when I thought only ROOSTERS had combs and wattles and thought every single one of the chicks I bought as "pullets" were every last one of them roosters when their combs started to grow.

The majority of hatchery chickens are bred to lay eggs (and those bred exclusively for meat don't get old enough to lay eggs) so it's not convenient for them to go broody. As long as they're setting, they aren't laying, nor will they lay for a few weeks after the chicks hatch. So it's bred out of them. The hens just lay their eggs and walk away.

Some breeds are more prone to going broody than others, though. But it's still up to the hen if or when she decides she wants to set on eggs and hatch 'em.

 

[chickie07]

If I go and get a broody hen, will she sit on other hen's eggs???

Sorry for all the questions, but I was really excited for the eggs and was looking forward to babies in about 21 days....

And I got this group back in February. Can I just put in another hen? If not, How do I introduce them to each other???

 

[BarkerChickens]

Quote:

They will do everything...if you have a hen that goes broody.

It's a hormonal thing. I have 28 hens, which include 8 different breeds. Hatcheries breed their chickens for production and some have had their broodiness bred out of them (since a broody hen doesn't lay eggs while sitting on eggs). I have 8 hens of my 28 that have gone broody. Some may in the future, but there are a few that I know that will never go broody.

Also, don't worry about keeping the eggs for hatching. When you do get a hen that goes broody, you can start to collect the eggs for her and just put them in a carton on the counter (pointy end down so that the air bubble sets on the fat end of the egg). After a couple days, you should have plenty of eggs to give to your broody. You'll want to give all the eggs at once since you won't want different hatching days (otherwise, they will be abandoned and die before hatching when mama gets up with the hatched chicks).

 

[Kittymomma]

You can't just introduce them, you need to quarintine for 30 days and then begin the process of integrating--do a search on integrating chickens for more info on that. Also, if you buy a broody hen the chances are good that the stress of the move will cause her to stop being broody. I think your best bet is to either get some started pullets of a broody breed such as the ones I mentioned above or start with some chicks of those breeds and hopefully have a broody next year. As far as what eggs they'll sit on goes, they'll try to hatch out whatever eggs you let them have, they don't care even a little bit if they are their eggs or not.

I had one of my BA's hatch duck eggs, poor hen nearly had a breakdown when the ducklings discoverd the creek--she was sure her "chicks" were going to drown, but they wouldn't come out of the water no matter how much she screeched at them. I also have an EE hen that is currently sitting on a dozen turkey eggs and is very happy that I'm letting her be a mommy again. Sometimes I don't give them any eggs and just let them sit on shavings for a week or two and then sneak some day old chicks under them at night, my BO hen is currently raising some EE chicks that I tucked under her as day olds.

 

[chickie07]

Poor hen, her babies were drowning. :LOL: That's funny!

Okay, for now I am going to enjoy my eggs. I will get a broody hen and wait. I'll post again in the future. Thank you again for all your replies and advice/expertise.

Gotta go and get two eggs outta my coop.