Broody hen

[farmboy22]

Hello, fellow BYC er's. For the past week I have had a broody hen that would sit on both her's and the other hen's eggs. I have seen the rooster mount all of them. After several straight days in which I just took the eggs, I decided to let her keep a clutch of 6 maybe 4-5 days ago. I am not going to separate her because 1. she is comfortable where she is. 2. The other hens free range so its not like they are going to bother her. I had candled the eggs and did not specifically see anything so I decided to sacrifice one. I cracked open and found the blood veins and a small embryo. I have several questions. Would it be bad to add more eggs to the ones that she already has'? Is there a specific way to encourage other hens to go broody. Can two hens share the responsibility of incubating. Is it more reliable to purchase a incubator or having hens that you accumulate over the years for laying. What is the most eggs a hen can lay on? BLaaaaaaaa. What a mouthful!!!!

Thank you very much for your time and just answer the questions you feel you have the most expertise in.

 

[Johnn]

Hello, fellow BYC er's. For the past week I have had a broody hen that would sit on both her's and the other hen's eggs. I have seen the rooster mount all of them. After several straight days in which I just took the eggs, I decided to let her keep a clutch of 6 maybe 4-5 days ago. I am not going to separate her because 1. she is comfortable where she is. 2. The other hens free range so its not like they are going to bother her. I had candled the eggs and did not specifically see anything so I decided to sacrifice one. I cracked open and found the blood veins and a small embryo. I have several questions. Would it be bad to add more eggs to the ones that she already has'? Is there a specific way to encourage other hens to go broody. Can two hens share the responsibility of incubating. Is it more reliable to purchase a incubator or having hens that you accumulate over the years for laying. What is the most eggs a hen can lay on? BLaaaaaaaa. What a mouthful!!!!

Thank you very much for your time and just answer the questions you feel you have the most expertise in.

If she is comfortable and the other hens aren't bothering her then just leave her be, there is no reason to move her. Don't add anymore eggs, you could just chuck them all if you want and start fresh with a new clutch but don't add any, its bad to have them on different hatch days. Yes, two hens can share but they will choose to do it, you cant make them. A way to encourage other hens to go broody is to leave a few fake eggs/golf balls/ping pong balls in the nest. And it probably is more reliable having a incubator because it is there when you need it, but if you have a mixed flock of different broody breeds you will probably get a few broody hens each year depending on breed. But having a hen hatch it out is way easier, you just sit back and watch, all you have to do is give them food and mama does the rest. It is also a lot cheaper! A bantam hen can probably sit on 6-8 banty eggs and 4-6 large fowl eggs. A Large fowl hen can sit on about 10-12 LF eggs and about 12-15 bantam eggs. Hope this helps, Good Luck!