Do I dare risk it??

[Chikndinner]

I have 11 eggs in my home made incubator and 9 of them are doing great and they are on day 12 today. Well the last 2 or three nights I have had one of my Australorp hens acting very broody. She has not gone to roost for 2 for sure and maybe 3 nights. She is a nice broody though she does not peck me but she does growl...LOL

So...I am sure you can see what is coming. Should I take a chance and give some of the growing eggs to her??? She is a first time broody. She is about 14 months old. So far everytime time I have checked on her she is sitting. If I had some new fertile eggs I would just do that but I don't. Should I try to move her to a broody safe location and give her some non-fertile eggs. then if she continues to sit give her some fertile eggs?

What would you do?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Personally I'd give her all the fertile eggs. She can easily handle that many. Whether you move her or not is up to you, but if you do, definitely use fake eggs or disposable eggs to see if she settles.

Another alternative, and one I have used before, is to give her some of the eggs, then after they hatch, give her the rest of the chicks. This actually worked out well for me. I had more eggs than she could cover, so I only gave her a few and kept the rest in the incubator. She was in the coop, not locked up in an ultra-secure area.

A black snake ate the eggs out from under her. I let her set on fake eggs the rest of her period. When the eggs in the incubator hatched, I gave her all 15 that hatched. She successfully raised them all.

The odds of something like that snake happening with your eggs are real thin, but things like that do happen. Good luck. Sounds like that homemade incubator is working well.

 

[Chikndinner]

Well I did it!! I put them all under her. Trusting in God and his creation to make life happen. Very exciting!!

 

[britsngrits]

I have 2 banty hens that went broody over a month ago and my stupid RIR's kept pushing them out to lay their eggs even tho there are tons of nesting spaces. I didn't think it was a problem tho and marked any eggs I wanted them to hatch and took away the rest. Then I noticed one of the chicks had hatched and had been pushed out of the nest. I thought it an isolated incident. I was totally wrong! To be on the safe side when one would hatch I would bring it in the house with the existing chicks in the brooder. Now they are down to the last 5 eggs each that I wanted them to hatch. I thought I would let them complete the hatch and raise them but the problem with the monster red devils who crushed another 3 chicks in the nests so that they could lay eggs. I wound up having to move them into pet kennels to stop it. The thing is the red devils don't realize they are killing their own chicks! They show no signs of going broody but they insist on laying their eggs where an existing hen is setting now. I am NOT discouraging you.. but if you are keeping them in the general population just keep an eye out to see if other hens may be pushing them off the nest to lay etc... the best of luck to you!!!

 

[Chikndinner]

Yes thank you I will have to keep a close eye on them. We only have 6 hens so that is a good thing. All of my hens are large fowl. So far my broody had been stealing eggs from the other nest boxes. I do have the eggs marked. I am planning on either putting the chicks in a brooder or in a separate area with their surrogate mommy.

The good thing is that I know the exact date the eggs were set so I can pay extra close attention when they are due. These eggs are just chicken math anyway. I have to give the chicks away after I brood them because we can only have 6 due to city permit requirements.

A guy who works with me sells eating eggs and I bought a dozen just cause I could get them for $1.25 for all 12 and I knew he kept a rooster with his hens just to keep them happy. Also I have no idea what breeds I am hatching. I have white and brown eggs so it should be fun to see what we get.

Thank You for the well wishes. 9 days to go....