fertilized eggs

[lablover]

If I have one rooster with a few hens, what happens when a hen goes broody? Will she lay several eggs at once, or still one a day??? Will I be able to get the eggs from her? If not, what do I do if I don't want baby chicks.

 

[Kevin565]

If she goes broody she'll hatch out eggs. She will still only be laying at a rate of one a day so you should be able to collect them daily to prevent broodiness.

 

[chickenpooplady]

Somtimes a hen will go broody over a golfball or nothing at all. But she has to sit on a fertilized egg for 21 days before it will become a chick. So even if the eggs were fertlilized, as long as you take them away from the hen right away they will not be any chicks inside. You can still eat the fertilized eggs. There is nothing wrong with them.

 

[lablover]

So broody basically means that she wants to keep her eggs and hatch them? I was just wondering what I would do if she got so bad that I couldn't get them from her.

 

[Den in Penn]

When they are getting ready to brood they still lay. When they decide to sit full time they stop laying. The problem is that other hens may want to lay in that nest. Which is one on the reasons people move broodys. If she's bad about you gathering eggs wear gloves.