eggs

[debra warkins]

just wanted to know how many days does it take for a chicken to lay a clutch of eggs----- then--- how long before they are hatched?

Does the 1st egg get a 7 day start? For example, if she laid 1 a day for seven days and had 7 eggs in a clutch. Or does the incubating start when all eggs are laid?

Really do not know anything here)

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Welcome. A hen will generally lay a clutch of eggs, she chooses how many, than she will begin incubating them so they all hatch out together. It takes 20-21 days for them to hatch.

Not all hens will actually hatch eggs as the desire to do so has been bred out of most birds.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Incubation does not start until a hen decides to brood and sit on the clutch. A broody hen leaves the nest once, sometimes twice a day to eat and poop. That's it. Her hormones drive her to sit and pull her feathers out to add to the nest.

If a bird goes broody (sitting on nest all day and night) and we decide to use her we take all eggs from her several times a day and collect the eggs we want to hatch. When there are enough of the eggs we want they get marked and placed under her all at once. The reason for marking is broodies will steal eggs from other nests and birds still laying will climb in with her to give her another egg. You don't want that as it staggers the hatch. It's better for all the eggs to be placed at once and hatch same two day period. By marking them it's easy to check daily for unmarked eggs to remove and eat.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

In additiib to the excellent info already given above, if the nest is in an area where other hens can get to ityou need to mark the eggs that are set on day 1 (sharpie works) and check the nest daily for any unmarked eggs as other hens will crowd in with the setting hen and lay that day's egg. Remove the *donated* eggs each day so that only the marked eggs are incubated. Failing to do this can result in the clutch becoming too large for the hen to cover, causing failed development or in a staggered hatch (that head start you mentioned) which causes unhastched eggs to be abandoned once the original eggs have hatched