first time with a broody hen, actually 2 of them!

[acbear93]

I have had chickens for almost 6 years now, and this is the first time I have ever experienced having a broody hen, an Ameracana. She disappeared for days at a time, and I thought she was a gonner for a while. We discovered her and her"nest" outside in some tall grass, and decided to not break her of this broodiness, though we did isolate her to keep her safe from predators, and I bought some hatching eggs for her, as I do not have a rooster in my small flock, I just keep a few for the fresh eggs...So, I got her some eggs that had a chance of hatching...She could not adequately cover all the eggs that I got for her, so I reduced what I gave her to 3. I have another hen, a black sexlink that I suspected of being broody also. I isolated her as well, and she has been sitting on the remainder of the eggs, 6, and has not laid an egg herself since she has been isolated, 4 days, and has remained on the nest like a good mother should, so I feel my suspicions about her are right. I am wondering though, I read about candling eggs, as I have never done this before, and I discovered tonight that all the eggs we have for hatching are porous. Is there anything I can do about this? I have read some posts that say they wont hatch, and read just as many that say they will be fine. The person I got the eggs from said he had a 100% hatch rate. Being a first timer at this, with first time broody hens, I am a little nervous about the porous shells. The kids and I are so excited to see some babies possibly hatch here on our little farm, instead of getting chicks in the mail...Any information would be appreciated....I love this website, it has been very informative!!!

 

[Judy]

From what I have read, porous eggs will hatch. In an incubator, you may need to increase the humidity for them. In my mind, the nice thing about broodies is you don't have to worry about temps and humidity and turning! I've had a few eggs hatch under a broody now. I've never tried to candle an egg. I've also never had one explode under the hen. I did have some die and start smelling bad, but it was easy enough even with my worn-out sniffer to identify them so out they went.

Did you notice the stickies at the top of the Incubating forum? There are links to lots of photos and discussion on candling, if you want to try it.

Good luck!

 

[Judy]

Oh, by the way...

 

[lauralou]

I have hatched porous eggs before. One of my favorite hens, who was recently lost to a predator, laid huge eggs that appeared quite porous when candled. I never had a problem with them hatching.

Also, I use broody hens for hatching my eggs. I don't own an incubator.

 

[ranchhand]

I have hatched some very porous eggs in an incubator, no problems at all. Well, except that they were all roosters!

from South Carolina!


*sorry about your hen, Lauraloo

 

[acbear93]

Thanks for all your posts, it has made me feel some better. I dont own an incubator, as I always just ordered chicks when I needed some, but then when 2 of my girls went broody, I thought hey, we could actually try this on our own...I have each of the hens set up in rabbit cages that we just happened to get from a friend of ours. The black sexlink is doing great, never moves off the nest except to eat etc..the Ameracauna gets up to say hello anytime someone goes in the barn it seems, so she is making me nervous, as she is the one that started this whole thing with wanting to hatch eggs...Well, I guess its a wait and see kind of thing, I will candle them again in a few days, as it was early and I couldnt really see anything other then all the pores in the shell. I am hoping that because they are under a hen, I wont have to worry about the humidity like I am guessing you have to with an incubator. Keeping our fingers crossed!! I will check out the "stickies"