Broody Hen Thread!

[Junibutt]

Hi Everyone! I'm new here and have a broody dilemma that I'm hoping for some advice on. My white leghorn went broody about a week ago - just a day after my only rooster (a 7-month old silkie) was killed by a coyote. The roo was my only bantam (with 5 full size hens) and although I think he was having some "success" with his hens, I don't think he'd quite worked out his moves with all of the ladies. Before his untimely end, I know that we had at least some fertilized eggs, but certainly not all. Once I realized my leghorn was broody (this is a first for me!) I collected and gave her the other hens' eggs even though I wasn't positive any of them were fertile, thinking that maybe, just maybe we'd get some silkie cross chicks to remind us of our rooster. Tonight my curiosity got the best of me and I tried to candle a few of them to see if anything was progressing. I think the eggs are on day 7, but I really didn't see anything, except a bit of a shadow in the center of one of the leghorn's eggs. I don't know if this means that none of the eggs were fertile to begin with, if I'm just not good at candling since this is the first time I've tried, or if most of the eggs are too dark shelled for me to see much at this stage with the light I was using (the other eggs are from a RIR and two cuckoo marans with dark brown shells)...

So, do I wait a few more days and try candling again? Do I go ahead and order some fertile eggs to switch out with the possibly infertile ones she's setting now? Or do I just leave my broody girl alone, hope for the best and see what happens in two weeks? Any advice would be much appreciated!!!

If you are seeing a shadow that moves around if you turn the egg, then it is the shadow of the yolk. Although its hard with dark brown eggs but at least you should have a concrete very dark area. I would say candle them on Day 14 again and if its still just a shadow, replace all of the eggs with fertile ones.

 

[Junibutt]

If you are confident that they were all set at the same time...then yes, it could be she had trouble covering them, or more likely they got a little cold on that 4 hour lapse but not cold enough to kill them...it may have simply delayed development.

Hopefully you'll have a bunch of little chicks in the next day or so.

Lady of McCamley

Yes, they were all set together, came from the same source.

 

[chicksnkittens]

If you are seeing a shadow that moves around if you turn the egg, then it is the shadow of the yolk. Although its hard with dark brown eggs but at least you should have a concrete very dark area. I would say candle them on Day 14 again and if its still just a shadow, replace all of the eggs with fertile ones.

At day 7, if you have a bright LED type flashlight, you should see a peanut in the middle with veins radiating out on the developing eggs even with the Marans eggs unless they are very dark on the Marans scale (mine were about a 5). You should be able to make out the RIR egg fairly easy...Marans eggs are much tougher so all I can generally see is a vein or 2 of a smudgy shadow in the middle. If I see veins, I know I've got success. Then I look for a greater developing air cell at the fat end with dark mass at the pointy end which grows bigger as time progresses.

I would candle again tonight or tomorrow to see if you notice any difference.

You can also take a toilet paper roll to place the egg into while you shine with a bright LED flashlight to help.

If you don't see anything in the RIR eggs, you may have to figure it is dicey at best for the Marans, and if it were me, I'd probably toss these and plan to get some fertile eggs then.

If you have an incubator on hand...you could leave the best eggs with the hen and place the newly purchased fertile eggs either with the hen or in the incubator. If nothing hatches with the hen in 2 weeks, you can then put those from the incubator that are developing as they should only have a week left. If she does get chicks from the first batch, you may be able to graft the week old chicks with her or heat brood them yourself. It means you will do some juggling with hatches which will be staggered significantly (by a week or more) but it would be an option if you really didn't like the idea of potentially tossing a developing egg from your Silkie rooster.

Good luck. BTW congratulations on your broody...a Leghorn no less!

Lady of McCamley

Just placed an order for some fertile eggs. Thank you both for your suggestions!

 

[sonderah]

Well, I have 2 Silkie hens in my Sizzle pen, they are the only ones in there old enough to lay. And they have BOTH went broody now at the same time! Lol Hard to hatch eggs when I can't hardly get any!

 

[ocap]

Well, I have 2 Silkie hens in my Sizzle pen, they are the only ones in there old enough to lay. And they have BOTH went broody now at the same time! Lol Hard to hatch eggs when I can't hardly get any!

 

[Woobsie]

To update, I also had a broody chick hatch out 5 chicks last weekend 3.5' off the floor. I was so worriee because some hatched Friday, Sat and then Monday. By Tuesday night she and the babies were all happy on the coop floor. I placed 2 hay bales and foam padding under the nest but I honestly think its not as big of a deal as I thought. She has a new nest in a box in the floor. Surprising how much more active these chicks are compared to the ones I raised under a heat lamp. Way more athletic.

 

[soggy]

Day 21 of my broody hen sitting on eggs. Went to check on her and found one egg open but no chick to be seen anywhere. Any ideas what happened?

 

[ChickyChickens]

Have you checked under the hen????

 

[soggy]

Have you checked under the hen????

Yes no sign of a chick under or around her

 

[ChickyChickens]

That has happened to me once before! Later on I found out it got out of the nest walked around a bit before getting trampled on by our goat herd!