Books about Laying and hatching eggs

[Dgwmama]

I want to start by saying I love all the information in the threads on this site, and I am so grateful I found this group.

But… I am looking for a book or a few books that will give me everything I need to know about signs a hen is fertilized, when to know if she will brood them, how to help care for her, what kind of atmosphere the hen and eggs will need, etc. All the things!

Does anyone have any recommendations for comprehensive books about hens laying and raising their own chicks? I don’t want to be sitting around like Jamima Puddleduck waiting for unferilized eggs to hatch.

Thanks in advance!

 

[nchls school]

This site is better than any book out there. You will find every aspect of bird raising right here; and get one on one help-or better. Take the time to click on, Articles, above. I think there's an article about everything; written by people with first-hand knowledge.

I do a lot of research, and many books are too generalized and inaccurate. For example, today I lost some wild turkey poults because I went by the book instead of going by what I know. The book and internet states that turkey eggs hatch in 28 days. Too generalized; wilds hatch in 25-26 days. The poults were lost when they fell from the nest. I had meant to blockade the nest to prevent this from happening, but had marked my calendar for 28 and...

The same with my peafowl. Every written book and other says that peafowl breed at three years of age. Mine started laying just shy of two years of age.

People here are more knowledgeable than any book you will find on the shelf!

 

[NatJ]

This site is better than any book out there....I do a lot of research, and many books are too generalized and inaccurate.

In general, I agree.

Does anyone have any recommendations for comprehensive books about hens laying and raising their own chicks?

The books I have seen that best cover hatching with broody hens are about a century old, before incubators were common. They are interested in doing it efficiently-- a row of coops with nests, discard infertile eggs and combine the rest under a smaller number of hens, when chicks hatch combine them again to leave the fewest hens actually raising chicks while the others begin incubating new eggs. That is not the way most people want to do it in their backyard, and assumes a rather large number of broody hens at once.

Any book that talks about broody hens will tell how that author deals with them, or thinks people should deal with them. There are many ways that work, and no single "best" way.

If you want a "book," you might just print out the most useful articles you find in various places, and put them in a binder.


Here is someone's website with an almost book-length discussion of broody hens and raising chicks:
https://themodernhomestead.us/working-with-broody-hens-part-one/

When I've dealt with broody hens, I have done it a bit differently than any book or article I've ever seen (many similarities, but small differences here and there.) That is probably typical of anyone else you might ask, too.

I am looking for a book or a few books that will give me everything I need to know about signs a hen is fertilized, when to know if she will brood them, how to help care for her, what kind of atmosphere the hen and eggs will need, etc. All the things!

To answer those particular questions:

If you have a rooster, the hen is probably laying fertile eggs.
If you have seen the rooster mating with the hen, or if she has lost the feathers on her back from over-mating, she is almost certainly laying fertile eggs.
When you incubate eggs and chicks develop, you have 100% certainty that those eggs were fertile.

If a hen goes broody, she is willing to set on eggs and keep them warm until they hatch.
If the hen is not broody, she is not.
You can recognize a broody hen because she spends most of her time on the nest (most of the day, plus all night). She tends to fluff her feathers out to look bigger, and make threatening noises if you disturb her. When she is off the nest, she often makes a distinctive clucking noise (some people say it's like a ticking time bomb). She also tends to eat and drink quickly, leave a few big smelly poops, maybe take a quick dustbath, and then go back to the nest. She acts businesslike, trying to do these things quickly, rather than doing them slowly and leisurely.

After a few days of the hen being broody, you typically know that she means it. If you want to move her, do it then, and give her some fake eggs to sit on until you are sure she is content in the new place (24-48 hours is a good amount of time to wait and see.) Then give her the eggs you want her to hatch.

How to care for her:
Make sure other hens cannot lay eggs in the broody's nestbox. Moving her to a separate pen, or moving all the other hens to a separate pen, are the obvious ways to do this.
Make sure the hen can get off the nest for exercise, and make sure food and water are available to her.
If you never see her eat, that probably means she did it when you were not looking. You can feel her crop to check-- food in the crop means she did eat. You can also lift her off the nest and sit her beside the food, which will probably cause her to eat, drink, poop, and then go back the nest. But just letting her manage the eating & drinking at her own time is usually easier for the person, and works fine for the majority of hens.

What kind of atmosphere:
Safe place (nest, coop, protection from weather and predators)
You do not need to provide any specific temperature, humidity, or anything of the sort. Temperatures that are safe for other chickens are also safe for broody hens and their chicks. It is nice if the temperature is above freezing (so the water does not freeze), but even that is not required-- just bring fresh water as needed.

I don’t want to be sitting around like Jamima Puddleduck waiting for unferilized eggs to hatch.

Candling eggs is the obvious solution here.

Grab a few fresh eggs, or eggs from your refrigerator, to candle first. They should be a good example of eggs that are NOT developing. Then take the broody's eggs and candle them.

Any time after about 5 days, you have a good chance of seeing some development. If you do not see any development, put them back and try again later. If they reach about 10 days and you still see no development, crack one and look inside. This is to check whether the problem is with the egg or with your candling skills. Based on what you see, either give the rest back to the hen and learn more about candling, or crack all the rest and dispose of them. (Crack them all to get an additional check on your candling skills. Also, infertile eggs at that point should still be safe for cook & feed to the chickens or a dog. They are probably also safe for a person to eat, but I've never yet been hungry enough to want to try.)

After you have seen a few eggs that ARE developing, you should become much more confident about recognizing the ones that are NOT developing. (At least, it worked that way for me.)

 

[Dgwmama]

Thank you! I have been looking for a basic overview of the whole process since this is our first flock and I have no experience with them. I have been trying to read through posts and articles, but they seem kind of scattered topics about very specific things. I appreciate the rundown of how it goes!

In general, I agree.



The books I have seen that best cover hatching with broody hens are about a century old, before incubators were common. They are interested in doing it efficiently-- a row of coops with nests, discard infertile eggs and combine the rest under a smaller number of hens, when chicks hatch combine them again to leave the fewest hens actually raising chicks while the others begin incubating new eggs. That is not the way most people want to do it in their backyard, and assumes a rather large number of broody hens at once.

Any book that talks about broody hens will tell how that author deals with them, or thinks people should deal with them. There are many ways that work, and no single "best" way.

If you want a "book," you might just print out the most useful articles you find in various places, and put them in a binder.


Here is someone's website with an almost book-length discussion of broody hens and raising chicks:
https://themodernhomestead.us/working-with-broody-hens-part-one/

When I've dealt with broody hens, I have done it a bit differently than any book or article I've ever seen (many similarities, but small differences here and there.) That is probably typical of anyone else you might ask, too.


To answer those particular questions:

If you have a rooster, the hen is probably laying fertile eggs.
If you have seen the rooster mating with the hen, or if she has lost the feathers on her back from over-mating, she is almost certainly laying fertile eggs.
When you incubate eggs and chicks develop, you have 100% certainty that those eggs were fertile.

If a hen goes broody, she is willing to set on eggs and keep them warm until they hatch.
If the hen is not broody, she is not.
You can recognize a broody hen because she spends most of her time on the nest (most of the day, plus all night). She tends to fluff her feathers out to look bigger, and make threatening noises if you disturb her. When she is off the nest, she often makes a distinctive clucking noise (some people say it's like a ticking time bomb). She also tends to eat and drink quickly, leave a few big smelly poops, maybe take a quick dustbath, and then go back to the nest. She acts businesslike, trying to do these things quickly, rather than doing them slowly and leisurely.

After a few days of the hen being broody, you typically know that she means it. If you want to move her, do it then, and give her some fake eggs to sit on until you are sure she is content in the new place (24-48 hours is a good amount of time to wait and see.) Then give her the eggs you want her to hatch.

How to care for her:
Make sure other hens cannot lay eggs in the broody's nestbox. Moving her to a separate pen, or moving all the other hens to a separate pen, are the obvious ways to do this.
Make sure the hen can get off the nest for exercise, and make sure food and water are available to her.
If you never see her eat, that probably means she did it when you were not looking. You can feel her crop to check-- food in the crop means she did eat. You can also lift her off the nest and sit her beside the food, which will probably cause her to eat, drink, poop, and then go back the nest. But just letting her manage the eating & drinking at her own time is usually easier for the person, and works fine for the majority of hens.

What kind of atmosphere:
Safe place (nest, coop, protection from weather and predators)
You do not need to provide any specific temperature, humidity, or anything of the sort. Temperatures that are safe for other chickens are also safe for broody hens and their chicks. It is nice if the temperature is above freezing (so the water does not freeze), but even that is not required-- just bring fresh water as needed.




Candling eggs is the obvious solution here.

Grab a few fresh eggs, or eggs from your refrigerator, to candle first. They should be a good example of eggs that are NOT developing. Then take the broody's eggs and candle them.

Any time after about 5 days, you have a good chance of seeing some development. If you do not see any development, put them back and try again later. If they reach about 10 days and you still see no development, crack one and look inside. This is to check whether the problem is with the egg or with your candling skills. Based on what you see, either give the rest back to the hen and learn more about candling, or crack all the rest and dispose of them. (Crack them all to get an additional check on your candling skills. Also, infertile eggs at that point should still be safe for cook & feed to the chickens or a dog. They are probably also safe for a person to eat, but I've never yet been hungry enough to want to try.)

After you have seen a few eggs that ARE developing, you should become much more confident about recognizing the ones that are NOT developing. (At least, it worked that way for me.)