Broody sitting for 35 days

[Dobiegirl22]

Hi! My girl went broody full time on 6/5. She should have hatched keets last Saturday. I was told to give her a week longer. At what point do I force her off? At what point do I have to worry about exploding eggs? I candled a bunch but they all seem like they’re at different stages but a couple looked like they should have been close to hatching but nothing yet! This really sucks

 

[R2elk]

View attachment 2754543Hi! My girl went broody full time on 6/5. She should have hatched keets last Saturday. I was told to give her a week longer. At what point do I force her off? At what point do I have to worry about exploding eggs? I candled a bunch but they all seem like they’re at different stages but a couple looked like they should have been close to hatching but nothing yet! This really sucks

If a guinea hen has been setting constantly for 28 days without hatching any eggs, they are not going to hatch.

When a hen has more eggs than she can properly cover, they often all fail to hatch.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

View attachment 2754543Hi! My girl went broody full time on 6/5. She should have hatched keets last Saturday. I was told to give her a week longer. At what point do I force her off? At what point do I have to worry about exploding eggs? I candled a bunch but they all seem like they’re at different stages but a couple looked like they should have been close to hatching but nothing yet! This really sucks

How many eggs is she sitting on? If her clutch is too large, then you may get some weird hatch times and increase the risk that eggs die because they aren’t consistently warm. Do you have an incubator set up? What have your temperatures been like? When is the last time you looked under her? When my incubator hatched guineas had their first nest, they killed the keets as they hatched. There were several issues with that nest, but I also think it can take time for them to learn that eggs lead to keets and that keets are their babies. My next hatch with some of the same girls went much better. At any rate, I would fire up the incubator and consider examining the eggs again, removing dead eggs and incubating any eggs that aren’t close to hatching. It’s tricky because if she does have keets hatching, this is a terrible time to force her off…

 

[Dobiegirl22]

If a guinea hen has been setting constantly for 28 days without hatching any eggs, they are not going to hatch.

When a hen has more eggs than she can properly cover, they often all fail to hatch.

Oh dear. Thats what I thought but I was told if the eggs were a little older or the temperature was fluctuating they could take longer to hatch. She was sitting on about 40 but because of the carrier she’s in she’s covering almost all at any given time. Unless being under her tail feathers doesn’t count? New to this.

 

[Dobiegirl22]

How many eggs is she sitting on? If her clutch is too large, then you may get some weird hatch times and increase the risk that eggs die because they aren’t consistently warm. Do you have an incubator set up? What have your temperatures been like? When is the last time you looked under her? When my incubator hatched guineas had their first nest, they killed the keets as they hatched. There were several issues with that nest, but I also think it can take time for them to learn that eggs lead to keets and that keets are their babies. My next hatch with some of the same girls went much better. At any rate, I would fire up the incubator and consider examining the eggs again, removing dead eggs and incubating any eggs that aren’t close to hatching. It’s tricky because if she does have keets hatching, this is a terrible time to force her off…

I do not have an incubator set up but I could get one ASAP if that’s the better route to take. She’s sitting on 40 eggs but because of the carrier she is they’re almost all covered at all times.. but eggs are on top of each other. My temps have been 80-95 but did drop down to 65 while she was sitting for two days. I peeked at them today when she was off the nest. Of what I examined, one looked about 23 days along but may have died. The few others looked like 2-3 week development. One was bad and I took that out. I’ve tried to do everything right in hopes they would raise their own babies.. i am at a loss.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I do not have an incubator set up but I could get one ASAP if that’s the better route to take. She’s sitting on 40 eggs but because of the carrier she is they’re almost all covered at all times.. but eggs are on top of each other. My temps have been 80-95 but did drop down to 65 while she was sitting for two days. I peeked at them today when she was off the nest. Of what I examined, one looked about 23 days along but may have died. The few others looked like 2-3 week development. One was bad and I took that out. I’ve tried to do everything right in hopes they would raise their own babies.. i am at a loss.

It’s been a bit of a rocky road for me letting them incubate and keep their babies. It’s worth it for me, because the integration is so much better. However, my flock and I have had our own learning curve with it.

First off, I never let them incubate more than 12 eggs per hen. They could probably hatch more, like 16 or 20, but I don’t want to push my luck. Given your set up, it’s possible that the eggs have gotten too hot rather than too cold. I get cold water bottles and fans nearby for broody hens and guineas when it gets very hot. I can still lose a lot of eggs if it’s really hot (>100F).

At any rate, my suggestion would be to sort the eggs and let her keep no more than 12, the 12 that look good, with movement and are far along, at about the same stage of development. I’d take the rest to an incubator after tossing any clears or dead eggs. If I didn’t want to incubate, I’d still make the tough choice to let them go rather than letting her keep so many, as my experience with large nests has been poor.

You’ll want to keep an eye on her as eggs get ready to hatch. If she kills keets, I’d pull the rest of the eggs and try again next year. If you can keep the rest of the flock away during the actual hatching, that will help too. My flock was VERY interested when keets started hatching, even chasing the poor mom off the nest. They don’t have the right hormones going to accept keets though, so they are more likely to kill them. Having peace and quiet during the hatch is definitely best!

I’m sharing some pics in hopes they help you through! First pic is the first keet my hen hatched successfully! She had 12 eggs but I’d steamed 10 of them when freshly laid as she had been part of a group that killed the keets six week prior. She amd other stayed broody so I let them try other two fertile eggs. She and the other mom abandoned this keet after 3 days, but it was progress! This keet successfully hatched a dozen eggs herself the next year! The second pic was my most recent broody hatch, one year ago. She freaked out when the keets started hatching and wouldn’t stay on the nest properly, shrink wrapped some of the keets. We still got 8 that hatched successfully though, and she was a fantastic mom!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I do not have an incubator set up but I could get one ASAP if that’s the better route to take. She’s sitting on 40 eggs but because of the carrier she is they’re almost all covered at all times.. but eggs are on top of each other. My temps have been 80-95 but did drop down to 65 while she was sitting for two days. I peeked at them today when she was off the nest. Of what I examined, one looked about 23 days along but may have died. The few others looked like 2-3 week development. One was bad and I took that out. I’ve tried to do everything right in hopes they would raise their own babies.. i am at a loss.

Hi Dobiegirl22, how is your hen doing?

 

[Dobiegirl22]

Hi Dobiegirl22, how is your hen doing?

Hi! Thanks for checking in. I bit the bullet and got an incubator. When she got off the nest to eat I grabbed about 25. I tossed the duds and stuck any maybes in the incubator. Will be candling those again before the week is over. I did see a few I left under her with dark masses so I’m hoping for a miracle one of these days!

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Hi! Thanks for checking in. I bit the bullet and got an incubator. When she got off the nest to eat I grabbed about 25. I tossed the duds and stuck any maybes in the incubator. Will be candling those again before the week is over. I did see a few I left under her with dark masses so I’m hoping for a miracle one of these days!

Wow, she is taking forever to hatch those eggs! I wonder if she lost the eggs that she first started incubating, and the developing eggs under her were more recently laid? Hope the incubated and broody hatched eggs both give you keets!!!

 

[Sydney65]

Ok, @Dobiegirl22 have you hatched yet?