Does a broody stop turning eggs at day 18 ?

[Judy]

I wonder if anyone has ever set up a camera to find out. Too lazy to research this, but you'd think commercial hatcheries would have some knowledge of it.

I THINK my broodies became more still at the end. They also did the no-no of interfering with hatching, helping out.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
Before I had even read this far, this was my theory also. I use broodies and not an incubator. I find that during the last few days, mom doesn't get off and doesn't move around as much... turning minimizes and humidity goes up for that reason. Maybe that is why they try to imitate this in the incubator? Love my broodies and mother nature!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

I cannot answer your question but can tell you a little story

Last October I purchased eggs and put them under my broody cochin - Blondie. At the same time, I stuck some of my home eggs into the bator.

Two weeks into brooding Blondies clutch, and the incubator eggs - my cochin Sylvia went broody.

I took the eggs OUT of the bator and stuck them under Sylvia. She had never been broody, never raised a clutch. The eggs had a week to go.

She hatched and raised them just like she had set on them for 3 weeks.



I believe that the broody hen can hear those chicks moving around getting into position to hatch - some instinct tells her that the time is near and to STICK to the nest.

I know she can hear them peeping once they pip the inner membrane.

 

[mmaddie's mom]

Quote:
If eggs move around in the incubator, then they are moving around under mom also (or at least trying to) and mom also feels them as well as hears them.

 

[pnuts]

i think the hens do quit turning them as much as possible towards the end just because the chick might get disoriented and dizzy if you mess around too much. if you move them while they are at that stage they will peep unhappily at you and i'm pretty sure the mama would get the picture that that means ~leave me alone!

if you need to move them for some reason i dont think it would do too much harm but i dont think they would want to be turned 4 times a day.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

These are great questions! And even though I've had dozens of hens set a number of times on chicken, duck, and even goose eggs, I could not tell you the answer. Because I really don't spend much time bothering my broodies to see how often they get off the nest and how frequently they turn their eggs. But I think it would be a fascinating study, would you care to give me a generous grant so I can fund this research?

I've never hatched eggs in an electric incubator, and don't know how the information was obtained to write the instructions. I imagine it's based on a LOT of trial & error, since folks have been artificially incubating eggs for quite some time now, both commercially as well as privately. My guess is that these practices are recommended to provide the IDEAL conditions for eggs to hatch in an artificial brooder. Certainly there are exceptions, and individual cases where things were done differently yet successful outcomes were had. Still, the best results will probably be obtained by utilizing the suggested practices.

 

[racuda]

I think I can answer this question.

I have a broody sitting on eleven eggs right now. They are due to hatch on Wednesday, so today is day 18. In the interest of science I went out and put a red sharpie scribble on the top of each egg, without disturbing them. I'll lift her up every day until they hatch and take a picture. Then we will have the answer to the question "Does a broody stop turning eggs at day 18 ?"

 

[math ace]

WOW - - now I am waiting with baited breath for the answer - - - PLEASE post again . . .

I want to know the answer to this question. . .

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I can only report what I have observed with my broody-girls (and I 'use' them to hatch eggs for as long as they stay broody).
When there are Day 19 / Day 20 eggs in the nest, they will sit tight (no getting off the nest for eating or evacuating). There is still a bit of egg rearranging that goes on (as in they don't sit like zombie-chickens, they are still arranging and rearranging), but as soon as there is 'the embryo-in-the-egg' that signals impending hatch --- my good broody-girls will sit tight til the eggs are hatched. I think they can feel vibrations from the embryo/chick in the shell and instinctively know how to act (as far as hatching time).

Lisa

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm sure that broody hens can feel a LOT of what is going on in the shells of their egglings, long before it's noticeable to us. They can also hear their babies as they peep & peck inside. I often will hear the hens clucking lullabies a day or so before their chicks hatch. That way both the hen & the chicks are familiar with each other's voices by hatch-time.