Broody hen and eggs

[yellowrose98]

We have a broody hen who we gave some fake eggs to. We wanted to make sure she was serious. We put eggs in the incubator at the same time. Although she moved nest boxes sometimes (probably because another hen went in hers when she got up to eat) she always stayed in a box. The last week and a half she stayed in the same box. I moved her to a private area before the chicks were due to hatch. She stayed on her new nest. Problem is, although the last time I checked her she only had the fake eggs, when I moved her she had 6 eggs under her! I moved the eggs with her. Last night I put the two chicks that hatched under her and she’s doing great. We plan on taking the other 6 eggs away to incubate. Problem is I have no clue how long they’ve been there! I think another hen probably laid in her box when she got up but that could mean they were all laid different days. Any advice? I can candle them and get a rough idea, but if they are all different ages how would I lock down? Anyone ever dealt with this? Lol
She is a black sex link so I was shocked that she was as broody.

 

[MountainWoman73]

I dealt with exactly this. She probably won't accept new chicks after a couple days, so candle them and if they look almost ready to hatch, you could try incubating and slipping them under her at night. If they only look part way along, you have to decide whether to throw them out or try incubating, in which case, you might end up raising the chicks yourself.

As for lockdown, I've heard you can lockdown eggs as early as 14 days without hurting them. So as long as they're fairly close together in age, it should be okay.