Broody Hen Question...

[Brillig]

I have a first time broody Orpington...She's been on the eggs consistently now for four or five days I guess...I really want to keep her broody for the next set of eggs I bought online, but I have a few questions as I don't normally use hens to hatch eggs...

1) I know she may not go the distance this time around, but is there any way I can increase her chances of going the distance??? I always have my incubator as a back-up if she doesn't, but still...

2) Is it OK to extend her broody cycle by a week or two in order to allow the new eggs to arrive???

3) She has a few eggs under her now and they will be close to ten or more days in before the new eggs arrive...I don't want to take them out right now because I'm afraid I'll break the cycle, but if I let her stay on them, I'll have to transfer them to the incubator and then possibly have one or two newborns that are completely out of sync with my brooder cycles...This will leave me with a couple of stragglers that may require extra equipment (brooders, integration pens etc) just to get them integrated properly...I don't want to remove them now because I may break the broody cycle, but I really don't want the stragglers...What are my options???

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[CascadiaRiver]

Our silkies can go broody for months at a time, we just take away eggs after a few days and they keep sitting on the fresher ones I have a feeling she should be able to hold out unill the good eggs arrive and she'll sit on those <3 Just make sure the ones shes on don't rot!