Do I really need to candle eggs under a broody hen?

[LittleSquidgenHome]

I mean really do I? If there is a bad egg in the bunch will she know it? In the wild, and I am not saying my long domesticated breeds are by any means still wild, but in the wild does a momma duck know if she has a bad egg?

I would really like to let two more hens sit early this season and go uninterrupted. I was just wondering if I can do that without wondering every day if we have a possible disaster brewing. I have already had two hatches this year and I candled the eggs at the utmost protest of the mommas. I was just wondering if there was a way that I wouldn't have to bother my ladies and fluff them up.

Any advice or knowledge would be helpful.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

A broody bird will sit on a rock.

They don't "know" anything

 

[esthermgr]

IMO, candling is a choice even in the incubator. I hatched lots of eggs with my mom as a kid and we never candled. Never had any disasters or explosions. When I hatched my first independent set recently, I candled because I didn't want to risk anything gross. Even when I broke open the one infertile egg after the hatch, it wasn't that smelly or gross, just empty and watery. I've never hatched under a broody, but I would think that if it's not strictly necessary in the incubator then its not strictly necessary under a broody hen.

 

[nissa_loves_cats]

When I hatch in my incubator, I don't always candle since the flashlights I have for candling are low power and don't reveal much. So far nothing gross has happened. So long as you know all the eggs are fresh when you set them I don't think it's a problem.

 

[goosedragon]

Quote:
You must have some Dumb ducks! Mine, Muscovy and other breeds will push dead eggs out of the nest as the brooding proceeds. I am not talking the first week or so here, but later on. When I was a newby I used to put them (the outcasts) back in the nest until one blew up in my hand and covered me with rotten egg Thats when I realized the ducks knew more about the status of the egg than I did. do you often have eggs blowing up under your ducks? When I read up on the subject I found that a live egg is warmer than a dead egg because because of the growth going on in the egg. So I say no you don't have to candle an egg in the nest but many people do because they think they are smarter than ducks JMHO

 

[keeperofthehearth]

I agree with goosedragon. Your Scovy girl will roll/move the bad eggs out. Last year my hen, Charlotte, kept rolling an egg or two out of her nest and I thought they had just gotten pushed out when she was moving around so kept putting them back in. Bad choice on my part.... last time I rolled that egg back in....few minutes later, there was poor Charlotte carefully walking out the duck house with a large, very smelly, dripping egg shell in her bill.

You should have seen the LOOK she gave me ....

...

WELL, I did help her clean up her nest and have taken it to heart that SHE does know better.

 

[Shared Acres]

I do, Last time I did I found one not formed and one dead.

BTW, I think each one is going to be different. Our Muscovy is sitting on unfertilized eggs. Been doing it for awhile now!

On the chickens, sometimes an egg accidentally rolls out and I'll put it back in and it hatches.

 

[ultasol]

I would simply because I have had birds, not ducks mind you, leave the nest due to a rotten egg. I don't know if they couldn't move it off the nest or were just inexperienced brooders, but it wasn't fun to try to move the viable eggs to the incubator since the brooder deserted.