Giving broody fertilized eggs

[Revkelly]

We're about to give our buff orphington broody hen six fertilized eggs. She's been sitting on just one decoy for a week or so, but broody for several weeks now. Am I ok simply slipping them under her during the day, or should I wait until she's more dormant in the evening? I'll work on a brooder coop set up for her soon - advice also needed about how to transfer her and eggs at that time.

 

[nuthatched]

How long has she been broody? If it's been about 21 days, you need to break her. Prolonged broodiness wears out a chicken.

 

[Revkelly]

Probably 2 weeks.

 

[Altairsky]

It might be too late, she might abandon the eggs.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Am I ok simply slipping them under her during the day, or should I wait until she's more dormant in the evening?

If you were trying to give her live chicks to adopt I'd suggest waiting until dark, but not for eggs. I give mine eggs in the middle of the day with no issues. I see no reason to wait or make this any more complicated than it has to be.

Probably 2 weeks.

Before a hen even starts laying eggs she builds up excess fat. That excess fat is what a broody mostly lives off of so she can stay on the nest instead of needing to be off looking for food. Once they use up all of that excess fat most broodies will break from being broody.

Different hens store up different amounts of excess fat. Broody hens spend different lengths of time off of the nest looking for food and water. Each chicken is different. I cannot tell you exactly when your hen will use up all of her excess fat.

You are dealing with living animals, I cannot tell you what yours will do. But I can tell you what I do in your situation. I arbitrarily set 5 weeks as my cut-off date. If a hen can hatch her eggs within 5 weeks of first going broody I let her try. I think the chances of her sticking it out that long are very high.