Broody hen on day 23

[suenrob]

How long should I let her sit there? There are no pips. I think too many hens layed eggs in her nest and she couldn't cover them all properly. There are like 20 eggs in there.
If I take the eggs, will she go back to being a normal hen?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I would let her sit a couple more days and then candle them before you take them. Maybe they are viable yet. My bator is on day 24 and I know there was a live chick last night-then I quite candling and battoned down the hatches again!

 

[Chirpy]

All I can do is commiserate with you. My broody is on day 23 today also ... however, she's only sitting on five eggs and one of them hatched yesterday!

I am going to continue to let mine sit until day 25 and then figure no others will hatch. We went out almost every half hour every day and when she was off the nest we would pull any extra eggs that the other hens had laid in her nest. I marked the original five so we would know which ones to leave with her.

You can't make a broody go back to being a 'normal' hen. I've heard that she will continue to be broody until she hatches a chick or has sat for well over a month. I don't have experience with this though so someone else will have to jump in to give advice.

 

[suenrob]

OK, I guess I will give here a couple more days. Good idea about marking the eggs then taking the new ones, I will do that next time. Thanks