Broody Hen Thread!

[ebarnes]

Hey guys I have a broody hen sitting in a single egg. It's been about a week and a half now. She's non aggressive, if I can grab the egg from her is there anyway to tell if there's a baby in there? I've picked it up a few times to see if I can feel it getting heavier it feels a bit heavier than the eggs I've got in the house but I don't know if it's enough to determine if there's a baby. This is my first chicken so I'm a total newbie

 

[jnckids]

Hey guys I have a broody hen sitting in a single egg. It's been about a week and a half now. She's non aggressive, if I can grab the egg from her is there anyway to tell if there's a baby in there? I've picked it up a few times to see if I can feel it getting heavier it feels a bit heavier than the eggs I've got in the house but I don't know if it's enough to determine if there's a baby. This is my first chicken so I'm a total newbie

This may sound like a silly question, but for starters, do you have a rooster? If the answer is yes, than the egg is likely fertile. You can take a bright flashlight in a dark room and set the egg on the lens. The Google candle chicken egg day xxx and see if looks similar.

 

[ebarnes]

This may sound like a silly question, but for starters, do you have a rooster? If the answer is yes, than the egg is likely fertile. You can take a bright flashlight in a dark room and set the egg on the lens. The Google candle chicken egg day xxx and see if looks similar.

Lol not a silly question I guess I should have specified

if it is fertile the roo is a black silkie and my hen is a buff Orpington so it'll be an interesting baby. If I take it and candle it will she take it back? My boss gave me a couple fertile eggs to stick under my broody hen that she wants to keep but have my hen raise since none of hers are broody. Do I just stick them right under her at any time? Or is there a secret to get her to accept them?

 

[jnckids]

Lol not a silly question I guess I should have specified

if it is fertile the roo is a black silkie and my hen is a buff Orpington so it'll be an interesting baby. If I take it and candle it will she take it back? My boss gave me a couple fertile eggs to stick under my broody hen that she wants to keep but have my hen raise since none of hers are broody. Do I just stick them right under her at any time? Or is there a secret to get her to accept them?

She will take it back if she's already been sitting for over a week. However, do it at night when it's dark and then put it back under her.

As for the second question, if she's already been sitting for over a week, don't add the eggs. Because if yours hatches, she will almost certainly abandon the rest to raise the new chick. I would hold the new eggs, and if yours is not fertile, then pull it and give her the new eggs.

You will just need to make sure she's eating and drinking week because you'll have her sitting for a long time.

 

[KJzCola]

This may sound like a silly question, but for starters, do you have a rooster? If the answer is yes, than the egg is likely fertile. You can take a bright flashlight in a dark room and set the egg on the lens. The Google candle chicken egg day xxx and see if looks similar.

Lol not a silly question I guess I should have specified

if it is fertile the roo is a black silkie and my hen is a buff Orpington so it'll be an interesting baby. If I take it and candle it will she take it back? My boss gave me a couple fertile eggs to stick under my broody hen that she wants to keep but have my hen raise since none of hers are broody. Do I just stick them right under her at any time? Or is there a secret to get her to accept them?

To give second input toyour origional question: candeling IS what you want to do to check the egg for development. It is super straight forward and a very reliable means of checking that is generally easy to pick up on. IF your egg has a dark shell, you might not be able to tell, but if its regular brown or white it will be easy.

Like previous said, just google it for methodology. I use my hand to gap a flashlight and the egg. Also, candle one of your eating eggs of the same color first so you know what an undeveloped egg looks like (spolier the yolk provides no shadow like you might assume).
As for gaining weight... im no scientist but I think one of Newtons Laws of matter discredits that as a possilitlity. The egg is a closed enviorment, not being supplied by outside nutrients such as a mammal baby is. Therefore matter will neither be gained nor lost during incubation, yeilding it impossible for the egg to gain or loose weight.

As stated by previous responder, candeling will not effect your hen rejecting the egg. It IS less disruptive to mama if you do this in the evening/night when they are calm for sleep and subdued by lack of daylight. It will also be easier for you to candle when its darker.

While it is best to have multiple eggs under her from the beginning, because things do happen and not 100% will make it to hatch on most occasions; it IS unwise to add new eggs at this point unless you want to remove yours. Once one baby hatches mama will need to take on an active role in raising bu showing the babies food and water, so mama will only comtinue to sit on unhatched eggs for a few days past the first hatchling. Also, hens may not sit for much more than 25-26 ish days anyways. They know how long it takes, and if you were to replace an incubating egg with fresh ones halfway through the incubation cycle, your hen MAY give up and abandon the eggs before they can make it to term. It is very possible for a hen to sit for a lot longer if shes really stuck in stubborn broody mode, but your chances are smaller if you add a week and a half to her three week time commitment.

IF your boss leaves a LARGE number of uncollected eggs in her nest boxes, she may trigger broodiness in one of her hens, its worth a try. I THINK thats what triggered mine but i cant say for sure. There were like 18 eggs in the box when she went broody.

Hope this helps

 

[chicknic]

Hi All-

My speckled Sussex is broody for the first time. I just attempted to move her into a separate coop, it did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I waited for dark, moved her and the eggs together in a plastic storage container that I had cut a hole in for entry/exit, and put them in a separate coop.

I read about something about closing her in a the box with her eggs for 48hrs and really didn't like the sound of cutting her off from outside for that long. She's been sitting for 7 days now, as soon as I moved her she was in a huge huff and refused to stay in the box. She ate, drank, scratched around and then got up on the perch and settled in I placed her back in the box with the lid on and blocked off the exit. Should I leave her for 48 hrs?? It seems like a long time.

 

[yochickiemomma]

My second hen has decided to sit on her eggs full time. I'm questionable about the 4 she has under her. I'm not sure how long she was off them Wednesday could have been 4-8 hrs. When I moved her she got upset and left the nest in the morning and wasn't on it when I went home for lunch that day. She's been on it every time since then that I've checked. I added 4 more this morning. She started setting 4 days ago do you think it was okay to add 4 more eggs this morning? Just in case.

 

[WVduckchick]

To give second input toyour origional question: candeling IS what you want to do to check the egg for development. It is super straight forward and a very reliable means of checking that is generally easy to pick up on. IF your egg has a dark shell, you might not be able to tell, but if its regular brown or white it will be easy.

Like previous said, just google it for methodology. I use my hand to gap a flashlight and the egg. Also, candle one of your eating eggs of the same color first so you know what an undeveloped egg looks like (spolier the yolk provides no shadow like you might assume).
As for gaining weight... im no scientist but I think one of Newtons Laws of matter discredits that as a possilitlity. The egg is a closed enviorment, not being supplied by outside nutrients such as a mammal baby is. Therefore matter will neither be gained nor lost during incubation, yeilding it impossible for the egg to gain or loose weight.

As stated by previous responder, candeling will not effect your hen rejecting the egg. It IS less disruptive to mama if you do this in the evening/night when they are calm for sleep and subdued by lack of daylight. It will also be easier for you to candle when its darker.

While it is best to have multiple eggs under her from the beginning, because things do happen and not 100% will make it to hatch on most occasions; it IS unwise to add new eggs at this point unless you want to remove yours. Once one baby hatches mama will need to take on an active role in raising bu showing the babies food and water, so mama will only comtinue to sit on unhatched eggs for a few days past the first hatchling. Also, hens may not sit for much more than 25-26 ish days anyways. They know how long it takes, and if you were to replace an incubating egg with fresh ones halfway through the incubation cycle, your hen MAY give up and abandon the eggs before they can make it to term. It is very possible for a hen to sit for a lot longer if shes really stuck in stubborn broody mode, but your chances are smaller if you add a week and a half to her three week time commitment.

IF your boss leaves a LARGE number of uncollected eggs in her nest boxes, she may trigger broodiness in one of her hens, its worth a try. I THINK thats what triggered mine but i cant say for sure. There were like 18 eggs in the box when she went broody.

Hope this helps

Sorry, but I must interject. Eggs actually lose weight as they incubate. Shell are actually porous, not totally sealed. Almost all bird eggs, regardless of breed, including wild birds, lose anywhere from 10-18% of their weight by hatch time. Weight loss is one method during incubation that can be used to determine if they are actually losing the proper amount in order to hatch.

 

[MuffMom]

Hi All-

My speckled Sussex is broody for the first time. I just attempted to move her into a separate coop, it did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. I waited for dark, moved her and the eggs together in a plastic storage container that I had cut a hole in for entry/exit, and put them in a separate coop.

I read about something about closing her in a the box with her eggs for 48hrs and really didn't like the sound of cutting her off from outside for that long. She's been sitting for 7 days now, as soon as I moved her she was in a huge huff and refused to stay in the box. She ate, drank, scratched around and then got up on the perch and settled in

I placed her back in the box with the lid on and blocked off the exit. Should I leave her for 48 hrs?? It seems like a long time.

My speckled sussex also resisted when I moved her, but she did settle down after about a day and a half. I cheated, using unfertile eggs until I knew she was going to set-so I didn't feel the "pressure" of needing her to set NOW. The fertile eggs started in the incubator until I was satisfied she was ready and willing. Once she settled down, I just added the fertile eggs. Took me two tries to get all of the unfertile ones out from under her....she was not letting me get her off to take them!! If you aren't comfortable with 48 hours, just start with a day and see what happens.

 

[mcclucker]

It took my GLW overnight to accept her new nest after I moved her. I should have waited until dark but I didn't - and she was really upset. I moved the new nesting box to be the same north-east-south-west orientation and roughly just "north" of the previous site and she accepted that.

She was sitting on fake eggs anyway so I wasn't worried about losing them. She took to her grafted babies really easily. Here's another picture. She is a really great mama especially since it's her first time! My big chickens came near her pen to check things out and she freaked out on them.