broody hen

[nannysrus]

I have a broody hen who has been setting for about two week. My other hens keep laying eggs and my broody hen keeps rolling them over and setting them with her nest. She is now sitting on 20 eggs. What do I need to do? I can't keep my other hens from laying up their with her. The eggs that she had been sitting on the longest are now pushed way under her and I'm afraid they are all going to be duds if I don't do something

 

[cowgirlchicken]

First off all take the eggs out from under her? Or do you want her to hatch them?

 

[nannysrus]

I would like for her to hatch them but can she with that many under her? Some of them are getting buried down in her bedding and aren't getting turned. I just figured that was too many eggs for her to be setting on.

 

[cowgirlchicken]

Yes it is quite a lot I would have isolated her so she couldn't gather other eggs and chcikens pick up on each other's habits you'd hate for all your chickens to go broody I'm not sure if the eggs will hatch hopefully someone with more experience could answer that.

 

[luvmypets]

Its sad but true and has happened to me. The hen cant sit on all the eggs... Thus the eggs not covered chill and they die. As she rotates the eggs under her, the good embryos get uncovered and die aswell resulting in you having 0-3 or so chicks hatch out of 20. Candle to see which eggs are viable and remove the dead embryos... Good luck!

 

[nannysrus]

I didn't even think of candling them. Thank you for bringing that up

 

[luvmypets]

Always good to check.. If there is a rotten egg and it explodes youll have a major problem