Eggs in incubator but have broody pullet, what to do

[mustangsaguaro]

I have about 15 eggs in the incubator, and have a pullet (almost 11 months old) that is sitting on about 11 eggs right now. Eggs have been in incubator for about 7 days. Am wondering if I should go ahead and candle eggs tonight (to see which ones are good) and slip them under the pullet tonight and take other eggs away from her. Or should I leave in incubator?

My dilemma is this. Last night when everyone put themselves to bed this one was missing. So, I thought maybe she might be sitting on some eggs somewhere. When I let everyone out this morning she miracoulsly appeared out of nowhere. She was acting really weird this morning, making clucking/growly noises while out. I thought maybe she was distressed. I ended up catching her and putting her in the coop by herself and boy was she mad at me (attacked me). I posted another post as to what to do, which I took the suggestion of a poster and took her out and w/in about 5 minutes she led me over to her clutch of 19 eggs. I am worried though if I remove her eggs and put the incubator eggs under her after a couple of days she might decide she no longer wants to sit on them. So, should I wait another day or so to see if she will continue setting or not? She has gone broody in the past (for about 3 days), but I ended up breaking her of her broodiness.

Thanks
Kim

 

[austinhart123]

I say let her have her eggs and you have your eggs, and if you decide that you want to put your incubator eggs under her, definently wait a couple of days.........good luck

 

[Stormhorse23]

19? thats a bit much

 

[airmom1c05]

Could another hen have been laying some of the eggs she was setting??? They won't all hatch on the same day, which makes me think you should candle them soon and put them in the incubator. Too bad you didn't find her nest at the beginning. It's hard these days to have a broody unless you have a breed known for broodiness. Maybe you could let her set about 6 of them and incubate the other viable eggs. You're right. A real dilemma!

 

[mustangsaguaro]

Quote:
Yes, I know, but that's how many eggs were in the clutch (I wouldn't lie about that). She is only sitting on about 10 right now. If I do take the eggs away from her that she is sitting on now I will replace w/ the incubator eggs which at most would be 15, but I know some are not developing so that number might go down. Here is the clutch of eggs I found. For all I know some are hers and some could be from my other chickens too.

 

[airmom1c05]

What kind of hen is she? That clutch is so cool!

 

[mustangsaguaro]

Quote:
I don't want any of this pullets eggs to hatch. Reason being is the rooster I have him and her are brother and sister combo. The only reason I kept her around because she was a good egglayer. Also, she is a Standard Old English and really don't want anymore old englishes. Besides her I have 3 other OE.

 

[airmom1c05]

In that case, get a bowl of water and test to see if the eggs float or sink. If they float, trash them. If they sink, eat them.

 

[airmom1c05]

Also, since you mentioned brother/sister not a good idea, is mother/son or father/daughter OK to breed? Who can point me to a good source of info on breeding do's and don'ts????

 

[mustangsaguaro]

Quote:
Yes, mother/son or father/daughter is ok. Just not brother/sister. I did some reading up on this as I was a little worried about that b/c originally I had the momma hen and she ended up having 8 babies. 6 were female and 2 were males. I got rid of the one male and kept the one cockerel and got rid of all his sisters w/ the exception of this one b/c she was the best egglayer of them all.