Can a broody chicken hen be used to hatch pekin eggs?

[Pheatherz]

I have 29 Pekin eggs and don't have enough space in my incubators for all of them (have tons of different chicken varieties and some turkey eggs filling almost 4 of them). However, I have several large fowl chicken hens that just went broody and want to know if they can be used to incubate and hatch my extra Pekin eggs? I have never hatched duck eggs and have no experience with ducks, but want to learn and will do as much research so I can properly raise, feed and house them. I would genuinely appreciate any advice. Thank you!

 

[L0rraine]

Yes, but humidity can be a problem sometimes. The chickens nests are drier than the ducks which can cause hatching problems. I've read somewhere that a daily misting of the eggs can be helpful. And -- less eggs in each nest, rather than too many, is also probably a good idea. My momma hen doted on her duckling for several weeks (only one hatched, I think in part due to the possible problems I mentioned above). The hens aren't big on their ducklings swimming however

 

[Pheatherz]

Thank you very much for the info. I thought humidity could be an issue. It's so humid here that I think it affects my free-range chickens when they have a hidden nest on the ground and go broody. Last year only one out of 12 eggs from one of our free-range hens hatched and I think it was because the ground was too damp. She didn't even make her nest on or with good nesting materials. Unfortunately, it was in a place that no one could access. I know that duck eggs take about a week longer to incubate so I wasn't sure if a chicken hen would stay on the eggs that long either.

I love the mental picture of a very confused hen being upset with her baby ducks swimming.