Giving fertilised eggs to broody chooks

[tanekahachicken]

I have just given my 2 broody chooks 6 fertilised Araucana eggs each. The woman I bought them off said to leave them to rest for 24 hours but I was a bit concerned about them getting cold. Is it ok to leave them? My broody chooks have taken to them straight away. It's very exciting.

 

[mulia24]

no, there's no harm to give the egg straight after getting them.

waiting for it will make the egg become older and lowering the hatchbility.

 

[eggsrcool]

Were they transported via mail? If they were it is best to leave them.

However, if you collected them, putting them straight under her will be fine, and as Mulia24 said, the older they get the lower the hatchability.

Congrats and good luck!!

eggsrcool

Edited because my typing is terrible, and I misspelt words

 

[Ridgerunner]

After shipping eggs, it is best to let them settle before you start incubating them. The egg can be shaken a bit during transit and it gives the egg time to sort itself back out. It also gives the temperature time to stabilize. Unless the eggs had already been started incubating, letting them adjust to room temperature will not hurt them. Failing to do this should not doom you to a bad hatch rate. It just improves your odds a little. The main thing is that the eggs need to be dry when you give them to the hen. Cooler eggs can collect mositure (condensation) as they warm up, which can help bacteria enter the egg.

As the others said, if you collected them and did not shake them up during transport they should be fine.

Sounds like you have already given them to the hens. If you have, then definitely leave them. Disturbing them more will not help anything.

 

[gumpsgirl]

Ridgerunner and eggsrcool are absolutely correct! When getting eggs that have been shipped it is best to let them rest for about 8 hours before adding them to an incubator or giving them to your broody. BUT, if these eggs were just given to you and were not shipped, all will be well. If the broody has been on them for awhile now, I would just leave them though. You don't want to disturb mother nature to much.

Good luck and I hope you have a good hatch!

 

[tanekahachicken]

Thanks so much for that. I did what I was told and waited 24 hours before giving the hens their "babies" but I was just worried that's all but hopefully all should be fine. I did transport them myself after picking them up but it was a good two hour car trip. I'll let you know how they turn out and post pics.