Broody question! (They keep switching nest boxes)

[affacat]

We are currently confused... Our 3 broody hens are switching nest boxes every couple nights, leaving eggs to get cold.

We have both moved eggs and moved hens depending on the night.

Questions:.

How do we stop this?
How long can eggs be left unsat on before they are no longer viable?

We have an incubator we haven't set up yet, should we move eggs left behind into that?

We're down like 20 eggs due to this, and don't know how to handle it. Any tips appreciated

 

[affacat]

We quickly set up an incubator tonight. Standard settings nurtureright360.

We candled all of them first... 1 had visible veins, 2 looked pretty definite, 3 maybes, 4 probably not (or recent lays)

This is our first time doing this and we had planned on just letting broody hens deal with it all... Til they started moving nest boxes on us.

Should I just run this incubator for awhile? Should I take the most likely ones and put them under a broody tomorrow?

 

[Perris]

The only way reliably to stop it is to confine each hen to a broody coop so they can't go back to the wrong nest.
Eggs can be left unsat and remain viable, in the first week of incubation at least, for much longer than you might expect. It depends partly on the temp there and then. But I wouldn't give up on any egg unless you are sure it's dead.
You posted the update while I was typing; I'd put them back under the best broody. Don't forget to mark them if other hens can get access and lay new eggs, which should be removed daily; you want to avoid a staggered hatch.

 

[affacat]

Regarding marking them... Do you recommending lifting out the broody every day to mark/check for new eggs? Or will this disrupt her? We've been doing our best to let them be.

Also, is a broody coop basically a mini run with a single nestbox?

Also, do you mark with a sharpie?

Also, how many eggs can an average chicken sit on? Our best broodie currently has a dozen or so!

Also, I think we're out of luck avoiding a staggered hatch this time around.

Also thanks!

Pretty sure we messed this round up, hopefully we get a few chicks though, for the hens sake if not ours.

 

[Perris]

I'm a fan of letting them be as much as possible too.

If you have the ability to take a look while the broody's off the nest for her daily ablutions, that's the best time to check for any additions (and I hang about till she's back to deter others from sitting on them while she's off, to avoid new eggs being added and her being unable to get back on them when she's done - that's what often leads them going back to the wrong nest).

Yes that's a broody coop.

I mark with pencil. A line all round is easy to spot whatever position the egg happens to be in when you check on them. Others use numbers.

Appropriate clutch size depends on the size of the hen. My best broody is a little Araucana so I don't give her more than 7. But others have success with 12 or 13. What matters is that the hen can cover all the eggs, and will be able to cover however many chicks hatch for at least 3 weeks.

If the stagger is just a day or three the chicks can synchronize anyway, with the late developers speeding up to catch up. Otherwise the late developers will likely get left behind when the family move out.

Good luck!

 

[affacat]

I'm a fan of letting them be as much as possible too.

If you have the ability to take a look while the broody's off the nest for her daily ablutions, that's the best time to check for any additions (and I hang about till she's back to deter others from sitting on them while she's off, to avoid new eggs being added and her being unable to get back on them when she's done - that's what often leads them going back to the wrong nest).

Yes that's a broody coop.

I mark with pencil. A line all round is easy to spot whatever position the egg happens to be in when you check on them. Others use numbers.

Appropriate clutch size depends on the size of the hen. My best broody is a little Araucana so I don't give her more than 7. But others have success with 12 or 13. What matters is that the hen can cover all the eggs, and will be able to cover however many chicks hatch for at least 3 weeks.

If the stagger is just a day or three the chicks can synchronize anyway, with the late developers speeding up to catch up. Otherwise the late developers will likely get left behind when the family move out.

Good luck!

Thanks. We have no idea of the stagger, we are not even sure exactly how long she (they, really) has been broody with eggs. I suppose if she leaves with her family we will candle the rest and move them to the next broody.

I just built a minicoop for a different purpose (turkey poults).. maybe I'll build another. I guess once I have a broody with some eggs, just move her to the mini with food and water and she will take to the new nest box?

 

[Perris]

Indeed, if you've got a succession of broodies that may be possible, but it's better for all if all hatch within a day or two.
How fortunate you have a little spare coop! Moving is not always so simple; it make break a broody. The time to move her into it is when she first shows signs of broodiness, and put her on fake eggs to start. When you know she's serious and settled into the task (day 2/3 usually) then replace the fake eggs with the ones you want her to incubate and hatch. I would also include a dust bath in the mini run, as exoparasites can be a problem for broodies.

 

[junior67]

We quickly set up an incubator tonight. Standard settings nurtureright360.

We candled all of them first... 1 had visible veins, 2 looked pretty definite, 3 maybes, 4 probably not (or recent lays)

This is our first time doing this and we had planned on just letting broody hens deal with it all... Til they started moving nest boxes on us.

Should I just run this incubator for awhile? Should I take the most likely ones and put them under a broody tomorrow?

also if you do use the incubator get a thermometer/hygrometer that you can calibrate and put in the incubator as the temps and humidity are not always right on them so you want to have a correct one in there that you can read. If you search NR360 or Nurture right 360 you will find a lot of posts on this topic.