hatching my own eggs?

[3nglishteacher]

I can't seem to search this correctly. If someone has a link to explain, I'd be so thankful. I have 20 hens, 2 roos and one of the hens is semi-broody. I would like to hatch some of our own eggs later this winter but am ignorant as all get out! When I'm ready & a hen seems broody, do I just remove some from frig, bring to room temp and slip them under her butt? Not knowing which are fertile or not makes it kinda a crap shoot, I guess. Can anyone help me?

THanks!

 

[Buster]

I would just put eggs under her as you collect them. The refrigerated eggs may not be as viable because they've been chilled but I do know that people have had refrigerated eggs hatch. Also, I would separate her in another pen so she doesn't have the stress of the other hens hassling her. Good luck.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I agree. You could try with the fridge eggs, as long as they haven't been washed. If they have I wouldn't even bother. A lot of people have hatched refridgerated eggs. With my hens, I would bring them inside daily and leave them in a carton on the counter. Because the 'limit' for good fertility is 7-10 days, if noone went broody in that time, they would either go in the bator or the fridge. Usually someone would go broody the day after the eggs got put in the bator, so I would either take some out of the bator, or go steal eggs from all the other nests! In the summer I try to keep one egg in the nest at all times. My girls are mostly all young, so they don't like empty nests. Next spring I finally have golf balls to trick them with!