can I give a hen another hens egg to hatch

[bethsplace]

I have a hen sitting on 3 eggs, another hen acts like she is going to start sitting too! well that will leave me with 1 hen laying. has anyone given a hen anothers egg to hatch that would mean she would only be sitting on it for 1 week before it hatches that would get her up and going again quicker and I wouldnt have too many chicks to get rid of what do you guys think of this idea has anyone done that? my concern is she will only be sitting for the short period of 1 week will she know and keep sitting or be happy if it hatches?

 

[juliechick]

I would give it a try, if you want to. The 2nd hen should accept the chick if it hatches under her. Do you know for sure that the 3 eggs have chicks in them?

 

[bethsplace]

no I have been leaving her alone and really hadnt thought about candleling them but I will tonight see what I can see

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

she'll take any egg..from anything. very few of my hens sit on just their eggs. I have them all mixed up sometimes. chickens on guineas, one kind on another's eggs. they are fine with it. they just want to be good mommys.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

A broody hen will usually incubate any kind of egg you give her. I routinely give my broody bantams eggs from my standard-sized hens to incubate. They've also incubated duck eggs and now I have some setting on goose eggs. But I am not sure what you are asking here. It seems you have 3 hens, one who has been broody for 2 weeks and now another hen who just began to be broody. And you want to put the eggs the first hen has been incubating under the second broody hen? So that the first and the third hen will lay eggs for your table?

I'd say it would be better to leave the first hen on her eggs and let her hatch & raise those chicks. She should be wanting to go back to her regular business after the chicks are about 6 weeks old or so. If you don't want the second hen to stay broody you can put her in a wire-bottomed cage for a few days, something folks call a "broody buster", to discourage her from setting.

Check out this thread for more info on broody busting: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=181289

 

[bethsplace]

OK i candled them they all have something in them. I wanted to give the second hen just one egg, i figured if it hatched this weekend then she wouldnt be sitting for 3 weeks and leave the other two with the 1 st hen. but the second one is not sitting yet she was acting like she wanted to but has quit for now so I will probably leave all alone. Guess what the one that I thought was going broody laid a completely shellless egg this morning!!! just the membrane holding it together weird!!