Broody with duds at Day 6 - Can she restart?

[davemonkey]

I had a hen go broody, but a young cockerel who had only just started to fertilize eggs. I gave her 7 eggs from hens that he had mounted just to make her happy, but 4 of them turned out to be duds (candled this evening at Day 6).

At this stage in the game, can I start her out with a fresh clutch of eggs and expect her to hatch them out, or is it too late for that?

I have slight nudge to want to purchase some day-olds (to arrive on what would have been hatch day) but I'd really rather not.

 

[davemonkey]

OR, to think of it from the opposite end, can I get her day-old chicks at a more convenient time for me, which would be at least a week PRIOR to original hatch date, and put them under her at night, and expect her to *think* they are hers?

 

[Debs55]

You could do either buuut personally I would let her continue to try and hatch the 3 remaining eggs and on hatch day you could give her extra chicks to raise along with her eggs. Broodies cannot count eggs or tell time so either way she will not care

 

[davemonkey]

Thanks Debs55!

 

[Debs55]

No problem!