Broody with too many eggs

[Tammie69]

We have our first broody hen. She started with 4 eggs and a black snake got 3 of them. We replaced those 3 eggs and she is as happy as a broody can be. lol. The problem we have now is, the lazy RIR hens are laying eggs in her box. I think there may be as many as 15 in there now. The first egg is 10days ahead of the others. Will she stay on the nest once that one hatches or will she abandon them. Never had hens donating to the cause before. This is gonna be fun.

 

[Mrs. K]

Nope, you have a mess. You may not get any live chicks at all. This donating eggs is a very common thing. What happens is, a broody moves the eggs around, those on the outside, very well may get too cold and die. She does not know that, and moves the eggs around again and more die.

If by chance she gets a couple to hatch, mine have really never waited on the nest much more than 6 hours, but I have read that some will stay 12 or more hours. Then she takes the live ones and leaves the nest.

This time of year - it is relatively easy to get fresh chicks. I think I would call and see what day those chicks come in. If you don't get any live chicks to hatch, you could slip a few of boughten chicks under her.

In the future - wait until she is in the nest 2 days. Then mark the eggs you want to set with a sharpie, and every 2-3 days check and see what is under her, pulling out the donated eggs!

Mrs K

 

[SourRoses]

I would take out all the RIR eggs asap. They're a mean bird anyway, with red that doesn't mix well with any other color. Jut leave the eldest eggs. When the first hatches she will likely go off the nest within a day (mine wait 12-24 hours, recently I had a hen wait 2 days). At which point you need another incubation method for the remaining eggs.

 

[Tammie69]

Nope, you have a mess. You may not get any live chicks at all. This donating eggs is a very common thing. What happens is, a broody moves the eggs around, those on the outside, very well may get too cold and die. She does not know that, and moves the eggs around again and more die.

If by chance she gets a couple to hatch, mine have really never waited on the nest much more than 6 hours, but I have read that some will stay 12 or more hours. Then she takes the live ones and leaves the nest.

This time of year - it is relatively easy to get fresh chicks. I think I would call and see what day those chicks come in. If you don't get any live chicks to hatch, you could slip a few of boughten chicks under her.

In the future - wait until she is in the nest 2 days. Then mark the eggs you want to set with a sharpie, and every 2-3 days check and see what is under her, pulling out the donated eggs!

Mrs K

Ugggg. This bird is so very nasty now. Gonna need welding gloves to pick her up. Do you think I would be able to candle them and toss the ones that haven’t started to develop. We have a separate pen for her and are going to move her. Would it in better to move her and give her a new clutch and just start over?

 

[Mrs. K]

Really it depends on how long she has been setting. Personally, I never worry about them setting 25 days, but more than that I would not want to do. If she has sat 2-3 weeks, then asking her to set another 3 weeks, that might be a bit rough.

You can just leave her. If she has been setting more than 2 weeks, this is what I would do, wait and see and then if nothing hatches, I would go buy fresh chicks. Easy to get this time of year and maybe you can try a different breed - always fun.

If she has only been sitting a few days, then I candle them see where you are. I would do it at night.

Mrs K

 

[Yardmom]

I have done the candle and keep eggs that are at the same stage.
I have also moved hens (caged so can not get to first nest). I have 1 hen that never settles if I move her. My other are usually ok with the move, but if they have already been setting awhile it is not always successful.

 

[The Birb King]

This happens to me a lot too its really annoying. Candle the eggs and take any out that are not developing. If you see any eggs that are very far behind in development, do you have an incubator for them to go in? And is it possible for you to move the broody or fence her off so the others stop laying in her nest?

 

[Tammie69]

Update on our crazy ordeal with this broody. We tried to move her and the eggs but she freaked out. We ended up putting her back and marking all the eggs. Finally we had one hatch. We were able to move her and the remaining eggs to a secure area. Five days later another egg hatched. So we have 2 babies and she decided today to come off the nest so I’m gonna a toss the last two eggs. She has been off nest for five hours. Both chicks are strong and she is a wonderful mama.
Ps. Both babies are RIR so they were donated eggs from her sisters. Lol.

 

[Mrs. K]

Thanks for reporting back. this is what they mean when they say, "Don't count your chickens until they hatch!"