few questions about broody hen and hatching

[alisha]

ok so here it goes! when we found out we had a broody hen, we felt kinda bad because she would not let it go for like a month.....so we decided to buy a dozen hopefully fertilized eggs from a private person. (they have roosters and hens, but not positive all eggs are fertile.) so we put them underneath momma hen on june 5th. ( also one more thing before i go on....the eggs were refigerated before we got them, are they still going to be good?) so today is the 21st day. yesterday we were looking at the eggs and saw that just one had a crack in it, but no chick yet (today there has been no change). so curious as to see if there is any chick in there or not? she has also not sat on all of them at the same time throughout this whole process, they have all stayed pretty warm but not all the same temp. so how long do i give the eggs before i throw them away? or is there anyway i can tell if there is a chick inside? (some of the eggs are very dark)
also there have been eggs being laid in the box where mamma hen is laying on the eggs, is this normal? is it going to affect how long the eggs need to be incubated? or has incubation even started yet? this is our first time trying to hatch our own chicks and getting a little too anxious! i really hope that she has at least one to call her own, but i am starting to wonder about it.
thanks for the help in advance!

alisha

 

[Godiva]

I just finished typing a long reply and just had the computer delete the whole thing!

Alisha, I hate to say but you are going to be lucky to get any chicks with your situation the way you have described it... I hope I am wrong, but there are a number of factors that are against you here. Having too many eggs under your hen results in a chicks dying in the eggs as they have to be kept at the right temperature and humidity for them to develop fully and then be able to hatch. I have found that having other hens laying in the nest can really mess things around as she will not differentiate between the eggs you are wanting to hatch and a newly laid infertile egg. She may tuck the new eggs under her and have hatching eggs pushed out from under her where they cool down and die. I prefer to have a separate area where she can sit on the eggs in peace and yet still be in sight of the other birds so you don't have issues with reintroducing her to the flock.

It doesn't sound too promising either from the point of view of using refrigerated eggs.... how old were they? How long had they been refrigerated? I know that you can sometimes hatch eggs that have been refrigerated, but you have to realise that your hatch rate is going to probably be greatly diminished. It doesn't sound like you have been candling the eggs - a great way to see which eggs have been developing and which ones need to be discarded. There are lot of posts on how to candle and I would recommend dong this next time. Right now, I would give it 2 more days and then discard the eggs.

I really hope you get at least one little fuzz butt for the hens sake... it is not good for her to go on being broody for too long. If nothing hatches then I think you need to break her of the broodiness for this round. You can do a search about this and there is a lot of good advice out there. We use a cage with a wire floor and only a perch and her food and water until she is done with the broodiness. I would suggest doing some research on how many birds you can handle with the size of your coop etc and which breeds you like and then find someone here who can sell you some good quality hatching eggs that you know are fertile. We made the mistake when we were starting out of putting eggs under every hen that went broody and before you knew it we were overwhelmed with chickens! A bit of planning and research really does minimize the stress for you and gives you a better chance for healthy happy chickens

Anyway, I really do hope that you get at least one chick - let us know what happens. Good luck figuring this all out - big time learning curve ahead of you

 

[alisha]

DARN COMPUTERS!!! anyways thanks for the reply! we have been checking the box everyday to see if there are any new eggs there. we have marked the ones that we bought so we would know which ones to leave alone. i am not sure how long the eggs were refrigerated, maybe just over night? not really sure to be honest! but like you say we will wait for another few days and if nothing still then, we will have to do something about them. i have been curious as to how to candle an egg, so i will have to do some more research as to how to do that. thank you so much for your response and you help!!

live and learn right?!

 

[alisha]

so far we have 5 chicks!!!!!

:

 

[Niss]

That's great! I would say she did a good job given all the variables against them.

 

[farmgirlforever18]

 

[alisha]

ok so 6 all together with two dying. one died because of my husband not being patient. but i think 6 is enough! they are so cute! i have loved watching them!

 

[Godiva]

Wonderful news Alisha! So glad for you and momma hen that there are some adorable fuzz butts running around your place! Of course you realise it is totally addicting hatching chicks whether under momma or in the incubator. You may want to join Hatchers Anonymous right away

 

[Godiva]

What breed are they? Do you have any pics of them yet? Always fun to see

 

[justtoni44]

Hi and.....................

Such great news.
Also x's2 on Godiva input...

You got so lucky and we are so glad..............