Hens go broody when you don’t want them to… and won’t go broody when you do. 
- Oct 28, 2008
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so when I say hen, I mean the cluck cluck
chicken kind.. I stole a couple eggs from a Cayuga who had been sitting for a couple weeks.. I had a broody hen so I placed them under her along with a couple chicken eggs for comfort.. I noticed that the duck seems to take breaks from sitting far more than any of my chickens ever have.. chicken has been on eggs for a week now and unfortunately was off the eggs and sitting elsewhere the past couple of nights.. last night I replaced the duck eggs and tonight when I retrieved them I noticed that they were in process of hatching.. each had the pip in the shell and were "chirping" but felt cold.. their little beaks were opening and closing as if breathing through mouth a couple of times.. it seemed to me that the egg shells were very brittle and had pulled away from the inner lining.. there was some still very red blood vessels.. i gently scraped away lining and shell from the pip area and placed only them under momma hen.. I am hoping they survive. The one seemed much chirpier than the other and I am afraid of still all the blood vessels showing now in the hatching area.. tomorrow will be the case.. fingers crossed.. I have had mixed success in the past when I "assisted" in a hatching.. some of my chicks have survived and some have not! any special way people have assisted or intervened on duck egg hatching?
