Broody hen questions. First time for all.

[byouland]

On 7/9/2008 siouxbee asked "how long can a brood be off her eggs?" There were tons of
replies that said their hens were off for hours and even days and the eggs still hatched. You can try to search this post. Good luck and I hope this info helps.

 

[darkbrahmamama]

I bought an incubator yesterday with an egg turner & set it up last night. I had to put Thelma back on the eggs yesterday morning, & she was off of them again last night so I put her back on, & this morning she was laying next to them. I really don't know if she's laid on them much at all since I put the 4 new ones under her 3 days ago this evening. This morning I collected the eggs I had given her, & put them in the incubator. I'm now breaking Thelma from being broody. I really don't understand why she wants to be broody, & will lay on the eggs if you put her back on them, but after she gets up & moves around she doesn't go back to them. Instead she just plops where ever, & lays there. I guess she's just not a reliable brooder.

Hopefully the eggs are still good, even with her being on & off them so much the past couple of days, & they will hatch out. They were fresh when I put them under her .... from that days laying. Do you think that there's any chance for them? I'll try to candle them in 4 days to see if there's any change .....

 

[byouland]

Yes I still believe they should hatch. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.

 

[darkbrahmamama]

What a learning curve it's been! So, the one & only egg that I had actually saved from her first trial batch ended up not being fertile. Go figure that I get rid of the two that were started & keep the non-fertile one!

Even if I had kept a fertile one from the first batch, I don't know if it would have made it the following 6 days, with her being on & off the eggs for as long as she was, to make it to the incubator & grow. So there are 3 eggs gone. I had put 4 fresh ones under her Saturday night, she was on them for a few hours, but was back off of them for around 12 hours Sunday night, I put her back on them Monday morning, but when I went up with the incubator Monday night she was again off of them. I let the incubator set over night to make sure it was running well, & when I went to the barn Tuesday morning she was off of them again & I put them in the incubator. I also put 2 fresh eggs in the incubator that night, just incase only 1 of the 4 hatched I didn't want it to be alone. So I honestly don't know when the first 4 were started. Sometime between the evening of the 14th when I first put them under her, up until the morning of the 17th when I put them in the incubator. I had been candling them, & 2 of the 4 looked awesome. The other two looked like they were lost, so I tossed one, but curiosity made me keep the other. Now, again, I am kicking myself in the butt because the 1 that I kept looks like it's growing! They must have simply been started after the other 2, & with me being a novice I assumed they were dead because they looked nothing like the first two. I'm thrilled that I decided to keep one .... but feel horrible that I tossed a third egg that was probably good!

So ..... I now have 5 eggs that are developing. 3 from her second batch, & the 2 that went directly from laying to incubator.



Now all I have to do is figure out when is the right time to take them out of the egg turner? I know on day 18 .... but it's a little hard to know what day the first 4 are at since Thelma was on & off of them all for 2-3 days HOURS at a time. Is there a way to tell by candling that they're getting ready to hatch & should stop being turned? Does anyone know of a good picture to compare them to?

 

[byouland]

Mine hatched at day 20 and 21. I was told it could take up to 25 days. I'm not sure how often they should be turned. I was aware when mine were going to hatch because I saw a small hole being started from the chick, and they hatched later that day. Good luck!

 

[darkbrahmamama]

I'm going to wait until the air sack angles, then take the egg turner out. Which will hopefully be next week!

 

[byouland]

Awesome!! Post pictures when they are hatched.

 

[darkbrahmamama]

ALL EGGS HATCHED! 3 eggs hatched on July 5th, the other 2 hatched yesterday morning. Even though Thelma only layed on them on & off for a couple of days, didn't lay on any eggs since I put the 5 in the incubator, & didn't hatch any out, she was VERY happy to get the chicks. She's been a very good mom, even to the other 2 that hatched 4 days later. She is a little rough on one, & will peck at that one a little more than the others, but she still lets it under her. Not to bad of a hatch rate - probably would have been 8 chicks if I hadn't "murdered" the other 3 that I thought were bad. Only 1 infertile out of 9! Lesson learned!

 

[byouland]

That's awesome, congratulations!!!! What is that on her back?

 

[Shellz]

Just found this thread. So glad it worked out for you in the end.

I've seen those being sold somewhere. Its like an apron for hens to prevent injuries from roosters mating them, but the design is also to deter birds of prey.