Egg laying

[dewwhipper]

I have two hens using the same nest. Everyday there are two eggs in the nest. Now there are sixteen eggs in the nest. At what point does either of the hens take ownership of the nest and start sitting on the eggs?

 

[R2elk]

I have two hens using the same nest. Everyday there are two eggs in the nest. Now there are sixteen eggs in the nest. At what point does either of the hens take ownership of the nest and start sitting on the eggs?

It depends on which breed of chicken you have. Some breeds almost never go broody i.e. White Leghorns. Some breeds can go broody at the drop of an egg i.e. Silkies. Even among the breeds that are either known for their broodiness or lack of broodiness there can be exceptions.

 

[sourland]

Depending upon the breed, the hens may not go broody. What breed are they? When one starts setting, the other may continue adding eggs to the nest. Mark eggs so any additions may be removed to avoid a staggered hatch. 16 eggs are too many for a hen to brood effectively.

 

[sylviethecochin]

I always give this advice--but replace your eggs with golf balls. Leaving eggs in the nest attracts snakes, rats, and other vermin. The eggs get cracked after being crowded too much, and the hens learn to eat them. Besides, unless you have Brahmas or Jersy Giants, they're not going to hatch sixteen eggs. Save them in an egg box, mark the date, and wait until one starts sitting on the golf balls.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have two hens using the same nest. Everyday there are two eggs in the nest. Now there are sixteen eggs in the nest. At what point does either of the hens take ownership of the nest and start sitting on the eggs?

Maybe never. Some hens never go broody, some go broody a lot. Sometimes fairly young pullets will go broody but often they wait until they are older. Breed has an effect but sometimes a hen from a breed that hardly ever goes broody will while a hen from a breed that often goes broody never does. Mine almost never go broody in early spring, late fall, or winter but will regularly go broody in warmer late spring and summer weather. While there are trends each chicken is an individual, you don’t get guarantees on any behaviors.

I’ve tried to let eggs pile up, either golf balls or real (marked) eggs, to try to entice a hen to go broody. While mine do go broody a fair amount, it’s never worked. The only way you can control when eggs hatch is to get an incubator. I assume you have a rooster so the eggs are fertile?

I’m not sure how many total hens you have, I get the feeling it may be more than just the two sharing a nest. The way I manage broody hens is to wait until a hen goes broody then collect the eggs from other hens I want her to hatch so I can mark them and start them at the same time. When she goes broody she stops laying eggs. I always wait at least a couple of days after I think a hen is broody to confirm she actually is. My test is that a hen needs to stay on the nest two consecutive nights instead of roosting in her normal spot before she deserves eggs.

Hens and eggs come in different sizes. A broody hen needs to be able to comfortably cover all her eggs to be successful. There is no magic number for this. A bantam hen may have all she can do to cover four regular full-sized eggs. A full sized hen may be able to cover a lot of bantam eggs. I normally give a hen 12 eggs of the size she lays, but I’ve had hens that could only cover 10 of that size. I’ve had some hens cover and successfully hatch 15 eggs. I once had a hen hide a nest and bring off 18 chicks. I never found that nest so I don’t know how many eggs she started with.

Another thing to consider, the chicks grow pretty fast after they hatch. If you have a lot of chicks it won’t be long before she cannot cover all of them. In the hot days of summer that’s not a big deal. I’ve seen week old chicks sleep on top of or next to the broody even when she didn’t have a lot of chicks. But in winter with cold nights it becomes more important that she can cover them all. So I take the time of the year into consideration when deciding how many eggs to give her.

One more thing. You can hatch pullet eggs, I have and will again. But don’t expect great hatch rates from the small pullet eggs. Sometimes the hatch rate is OK, sometimes it’s horrible. Most of the pullet eggs that hatch make it but my mortality rate is higher than normal with those small chicks from pullet eggs. Normally if the chicks make it past a week or two they do fine but I occasionally lose a chick from those small pullet eggs. If I wait at least a month after a pullet starts to lay to set her eggs they do better. After two months or so I really don’t notice a big difference in hatch rate or mortality rate.

Welcome to the forum, glad you joined.