Broody Hen Thread!

My broody welsummer is sitting on 5 eggs (she broke one). Some of the eggs are getting a little dirty (partly from the broken egg). Should i clean them off or leave them be?

I candled 3 of them yesterday night and saw vein development in one of them. It may have been too early, though since she had been sitting on them only 3 days.
 
I went to my friend today and he gave me 18 fertile hen eggs, and he gave me 3 fertile duck eggs as well and I don't want them to go to waste, as I also wanted to hatch them so what do I do, can I hatch them together or what.
(I have a sixty egg incubator so space isn't a problem) Help!
 
Question, we're wanting to move our broody and her chicks to a separate coop(away from the rest of the flock) while we're away for the weekend. We were hoping her eggs would have hatched earlier in the week, but they just started today and we'd need to move them by tomorrow.

Is this too soon to move our boody and her babies? Would it be better to just leave them with the rest of the flock while we're gone? Our main concern with leaving them with the flock, is that we plan to leave the main coop open for them to free range while we're gone. Someone will be stopping by to feed them, but nobody will be home on a consistent basis.
 
I just had a hen go broody so I put 8 fresh duck eggs under her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some ducklings! You think it's to many eggs? They are pretty big.
 
I went to my friend today and he gave me 18 fertile hen eggs, and he gave me 3 fertile duck eggs as well and I don't want them to go to waste, as I also wanted to hatch them so what do I do, can I hatch them together or what.
(I have a sixty egg incubator so space isn't a problem) Help!
 
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I just had a hen go broody so I put 8 fresh duck eggs under her. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some ducklings! You think it's to many eggs? They are pretty big.
If she is a large fowl hen, that should be fine. If she is a banty...that may be a bit too much...my Silkie can cover 8 large eggs but not with real success...she is better at 4 to 5.

Remember duck eggs take 28 days to hatch, and mom will do fine except she may be a bit distressed when her babies keep trying to float in the water bowl.

Lady of McCamley
 
I would like to join this thread. I have 1 broody whos on day 11 and sitting on 20 eggs
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and another whos been teasing me lately who has 6 eggs underneath her and just started yesterday.........shes never sat that long before.


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its so exciting!!
 
My broody welsummer is sitting on 5 eggs (she broke one). Some of the eggs are getting a little dirty (partly from the broken egg). Should i clean them off or leave them be?

I candled 3 of them yesterday night and saw vein development in one of them. It may have been too early, though since she had been sitting on them only 3 days.
I'm far from an expert, having just had one broody and hatch so far, but I didn't clean my eggs and they got pretty dirty. She soiled her nest once before I got into a routine of forcing her off once a day and one egg broke on the nest, so that was messy too. Out of the 4 eggs that made it to the end, 2 hatched just fine. The other 2 didn't and were just pure liquid, so I'm not sure there were ever fertile to begin with (my rooster is new and is still having trouble mating with a lot of the hens). I was afraid if I cleaned them I might damage them.
 

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