Enticing to go broody.

[pamperedamber]

I am trying to trick my one of my hensto go broody. I have two nests with 5 eggs each. I am hoping they are fertile eggs. My roo was injured and is unable to do his job at the moment. Here are the eggs on day two.
Comments are welcome.

 

[pamperedamber]

Do air cells form of the egg is not fertile?

 

[Pork Pie]

Never heard of a successful trick to get a hen to go broody - what's your secret?

 

[SunHwaKwon]

Do air cells form of the egg is not fertile?

Yes.

 

[SunHwaKwon]

I'm not sure you can "trick" them. They are either inclined to be broody or not. My broody hens will go broody on one egg lol.

 

[sumi]

I've had some success by leaving eggs in the nest for them, but it really depends on the hens. Some breeds are prone to broodiness, others not so much. What I would do is leave a few eggs as "bait" in one nest and see what they do. Mark the eggs and remove any fresh additions daily. Then, if/when you catch a broody, replace the old eggs with the fertile ones.

 

[pamperedamber]

I've had some success by leaving eggs in the nest for them, but it really depends on the hens. Some breeds are prone to broodiness, others not so much. What I would do is leave a few eggs as "bait" in one nest and see what they do. Mark the eggs and remove any fresh additions daily. Then, if/when you catch a broody, replace the old eggs with the fertile ones.

I am following your advice in hopes that it will work for me. I have a buff orpington, Silver lace wynadotte, EE (who I think is my best bet. she keeps hiding eggs so i will leave them where she puts them.), ISA brown, and a Blue Ameraucana.

 

[sumi]

I can't find the pic now. My MIL's bantams, mixed breed flock. We didn't collect the eggs for two days... I went into the coop and found FOUR, broodies, lined up like peas in a pod. One, two, one egg under each of them only, but boy did they guard those eggs! lol Those birds were crazy broody.

If they're hiding eggs, chances are. Just keep marking them, make a note of the date, if it's hot etc, it may spoil the eggs out there, so bait eggs are better.

 

[pamperedamber]

Well the eggs don't look like they are developing which means my roo was not active with the girls before he went lame. I will have to get a roo before I start my hatching project back up. I will give the eggs a few more days before i toss them out.

 

[sumi]

If the eggs are being incubated at the correct temperature (99.5F forced air - 101F still air incubator) they should show some development around the 6-7 day mark. But that being said, I've had eggs show nothing definite until much later. I usually look for some blood vessels near the air cell, but after 7-8 days you should get a good view of the embryo as well, depending on the light quality and the egg shell density/colour etc.