Broody hen's eggs not hatching?

[rpayne10]

Sorry I'm sure someone has posted this already but I couldn't find it in the search. One of my hens went broody while I was on vacation in mid March and I decided to let her sit on the eggs. Well it's now May 14 and no eggs have hatched. Ok one egg hatched as I found a dead chick a few days ago. What is she doing wrong? I feel so bad because she is trying so hard and leaving her nest only once a day to eat briefly. I haven't moved her because I don't have anywhere else to put her yet and I have no experience candling so I don't know if they are even alive still. I know the other hens are still laying eggs in the nest every once in a while. Any suggestions? I know they are fertile as one has hatched and the rooster is doing a good ob covering all the hens.

 

[polarbearpilot]

Your hen has been sitting for two months? Isn't that bad for her? Not being able to eat well for that long. Candling is not too hard. I suggest to search youtube for videos showing how to do it and what to look for. That way you know what eggs to throw out.

 

[rpayne10]

I've been researching it since I posted this thread and I think I will try it this weekend since it's a little cold and rainy today. My hubby made this rabbit/chicken hutch that I'm going to clean up and move her and the "good" eggs into this weekend. She gets up once in the morning to eat and I go in and bring her fresh greens and bugs in the afternoon because I was worried about how hard it has been for her. Bless her heart she is trying so hard to hatch these eggs. Is it ok to candle ALL the eggs? Should I use gloves? Thanks for the feedback.

 

[rpayne10]

Update: I finally decided to take Lucy off her nest after 2 months sitting and found 40 eggs and one dead chick. I candled them and 30 were completely black and sloshy one had the bacterial ring of death and 2 were broken. Poor Lucy! The 7 that were good I'll post in another thread but I think are about 2 weeks old. She was so upset when I only gave her back 7 eggs. I gave her 7 more that the other gens had just laid. I hope that's ok?

 

[esther5]

hi
i think the best thing you could do is buy her 4 or 5 day old chicks and put them under her at night removing all the eggs.

if she was on 40 eggs there is no way they could hatch. she will move them about and not be able to cover them all so they are all destined to perish even if they were fertile.

if she broods for another 21 days you risk losing her since they are designed to brood and barely eat for a max of around 25 days.

hope you find some chicks. if not she needs to be broken of her broodiness as soon as possible.

 

[rpayne10]

Oh I never thought about giving her chicks! What a great idea! I've been bringing her food twice a day and she gets off the eggs once a day and poops EVERYWHERE as soon as she gets out of the hen house. She is a really sweet lady and she's hanging in there. She so sensitive or I would have taken her eggs away sooner. She literally made this weird clucking noise that sounded like crying the whole time her eggs were gone. I have never heard a hen make that sound

 

[hotrodflash]

Update: I finally decided to take Lucy off her nest after 2 months sitting and found 40 eggs and one dead chick. I candled them and 30 were completely black and sloshy one had the bacterial ring of death and 2 were broken. Poor Lucy! The 7 that were good I'll post in another thread but I think are about 2 weeks old. She was so upset when I only gave her back 7 eggs. I gave her 7 more that the other gens had just laid. I hope that's ok?

The last eggs you gave her will die if she hatches the first group and then gets off the nest to take care of her chicks. I would remove the newer eggs and see if she hatches the first ones. Make sure that you mark the original eggs with a marker so that you can remove the eggs being added to the clutch by other hens. If the original eggs don't hatch in about 2 weeks, either break her from being broody or get her some chicks. I do not like to let mine sit for that long, they begin to lose condition.

 

[rpayne10]

I will post pics soon of the eggs I think are good. I think will try to take the eggs at night and hope she doesn't notice. I marked them so I know which are her old one and which are her new ones and any others shouldn't have a mark at all