Can you give a broody eggs that are close to hatching?

[temple1612]

I am considering incubating some eggs for my broody hen and then giving them to her for lock down (day 18). Has anyone done this before? Does it work or would it be better to either let her hatch them the whole way or incubate them the whole way and give her day old chicks? She is a first time broody.

 

[Jayecookie]

It is better to just give her the eggs and let mother nature take its course. You want to make sure she is actually broody. If you incubate it yourself and she stops being broody then you will have to raise the chicks yourself. giving her eggs, she will be more attached and in the end a better mother as you will be sure shes actually broody. You could give her day old chicks but their is always a chance of them not bonding and her killing them.

 

[chuckachucka]

I think it would be better to incubate the whole way and give her chicks OR let her sit on them for the whole process. Moving the eggs mid process could risk damaging the embryos. Incubator or broody is up to you depending on which one is more reliable in your case. If your broody is sitting all day except for one toilet and food break then the broody route is usually best. Il

 

[sylviethecochin]

I have never had a hen that could tell the difference between her own eggs and someone else's eggs. I have switched eggs out for golf balls, and golf balls out for eggs, and never had a problem.

If you're not certain of the hen's setting, or if she's setting in a nest-box in the coop and is likely to get in a fight with other hens over said nest box, I would rather introduce the eggs as late as possible.

If she's sitting in a good spot, has been reliably broody for at least a week, and is large enough to cover all of the eggs, I see no reason not to put them under her now. Hens are better at incubating than I am.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I don't see the advantage of incubating to day 18 unless you've a lot of eggs and are expecting there to be few enough by day 18 to fit under her.

If your only incubating a dozen to 16 eggs I'd just let her do it. It's so much easier to let the hen do her job. I always hope a hen is going to go broody while I'm incubating so I can give them to her but nature rarely works on my schedule. Had a bird start to brood bit over a week ago and was planning on a large hatch in May but jumped on the opportunity. Put three hens in small pen to collect hatching eggs and put 13 under the broody this past Friday.