Having another go at Hatching Naturally.

[Beamerz]

I'm trying again but need a few tips / reminders. I've been saving eggs for about 10 days and marking the dates in pencil. I have about 36 eggs and could get a few more to add today if need be. I have my broody section cleaned, and ready to go with a different /better set up than last time. I'm going to put the eggs in there right now after posting ( it's late afternoon here) I"m hoping a few broodies will see the eggs and get on a nest. I plan to set up two nests. (1.) How many eggs should I put in each nest ? I was thinking like maybe 12? I'm going to put a penciled circle on the eggs in addition to the dates so if any are added I can exclude those. ( 2.) It's my understanding that I'd candle these eggs in about 4 days after someone has been sitting on them? I will look for how to determine fertilization between now and then or if anyone can direct me to those directions that would be great. I'm hoping I can get two broodies to set and then I can close off that brood area that has a separate run food water etc..
(3.) any other suggestions? Thanks for your patiences.. I'm so hoping I can make it work. (3.) I'd like to put 3 nests in there to use more eggs but think pushing it past two birds in one space might be a bit much.. thoughts? Thanks for reading !

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

A couple of things. I always set my 'actual' hatching eggs after the broodies have committed to their sitting, usually after 4 days or so and seeing full broody behavior (pancake dinosaur, not leaving the nest except to poop and eat, screaming, fluffy monster). I either sacrifice regular eggs or use fake eggs for this purpose. I start collecting or ordering the eggs I want to hatch once I have a broody sitting.
For first time broodies I recommend a maximum of 8 eggs per hen. Once you know she's a good broody who is successful at hatching you can go up to 12, depending on the size of the hen. That gives me the best success rate for both hatching and raising those chicks. My broodies get a go at 12 after they have done 2 or 3 rounds of 5-8 chicks first.

 

[Beamerz]

A couple of things. I always set my 'actual' hatching eggs after the broodies have committed to their sitting, usually after 4 days or so and seeing full broody behavior (pancake dinosaur, not leaving the nest except to poop and eat, screaming, fluffy monster). I either sacrifice regular eggs or use fake eggs for this purpose. I start collecting or ordering the eggs I want to hatch once I have a broody sitting.
For first time broodies I recommend a maximum of 8 eggs per hen. Once you know she's a good broody who is successful at hatching you can go up to 12, depending on the size of the hen. That gives me the best success rate for both hatching and raising those chicks. My broodies get a go at 12 after they have done 2 or 3 rounds of 5-8 chicks first.

Thanks for your input. Not sure if you followed but I had an botched attempt at hatching naturally a few weeks ago and many of my hens have been pretty broody since I had to remove the eggs. I think we had some cold weather that didn't work in our favor early on back in May. I am learning as I go and thanks for your input . I will adjust what I did. I did just come back from my coop where I'd set a dozen in each box and they were all in there investigating. Two of the hens showed definite interest , one a buff orp which I'd love to see take the job. I'm not sure my rooster had been spreading himself around the flock as much as I'd like to see. I have one very large easter egger who seems to be his bunk mate but I've never seen him mate her ever. I was leaning toward putting down more eggs because of this. Can someone tell me if I candle eggs after four days of the hen sitting on them? I've tried to look this up but the problem is that almost everyone has something different to say and it's hard to know who to go with. Some things just take a bit of time to learn, but I must say I am enjoying learning. Thanks for all the input and feedback from your experience, it's very appreciated.

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Ah ok, no I wasn't following your other post sorry. I've also had botched hatches due to environmental conditions. I candle no earlier than 10 days, and often I only candle at about day 16 to discard anything at that point. I find it too hard to tell at 4 days, especially outside with the hens hissing at me lol.

 

[Hopeful homesteader]

I've been candling my eggs at day 7 and see clear signs of development by then, candle again at day 14 to remove any early quitters and though I haven't had to do it yet, if any eggs were left after the hen leaves with her chicks I'd candle them then to see if any were alive and attempt to hatch those and sneak them under the hen within a day or 2 and anything after that I'd have to brood myself. Mine are all first time broodies so I'm only giving them 6 eggs, the first 3 hatches were successful, today's hatch wasn't great with only 2 survivors that's not the hens fault and the next hatch #5 is due in 2 weeks and so far they are all developing. I only see my rooster mate maybe once every 2 weeks but I've only had 1 out of 30 eggs I put out that wasn't fertilized so he's certainly getting the job done. This round I did try candling the eggs 2 days ago and only one had anything in it and the other 5 the yolk was still moving around the egg with nothing there and that was day 4, I candled again today and all the yolks stay in one spot within the egg with veins and a noticeable dot in the middle where the embryo is developing and today is day 6 so with that little trial of 6 eggs I wouldn't expect to see much at day 4. For the 14 day candling I have been looking for movement and sort of compare all the eggs with those, movement is clearly alive but if I don't see any I look at how full the eggs of the living chicks are and pull the obvious empty looking ones and if im not sure I mark the egg and recheck later that day or the next day before pulling it. Most of the eggs I can see the veins pulsing through the shell at day 14 so if I can see that but no movement I leave them in the nest. Darker shells are hard and so far I can sometimes see pulsing veins or I have placed them to my ear and been able to hear little flutters of movement to help me confirm. And lastly if I can't see or hear anything I leave them in the nest and just smell them every few days, never had a rotten egg yet but with 100+ temperatures I don't want to risk an exploding egg.

 

[Beamerz]

I've been candling my eggs at day 7 and see clear signs of development by then, candle again at day 14 to remove any early quitters and though I haven't had to do it yet, if any eggs were left after the hen leaves with her chicks I'd candle them then to see if any were alive and attempt to hatch those and sneak them under the hen within a day or 2 and anything after that I'd have to brood myself. Mine are all first time broodies so I'm only giving them 6 eggs, the first 3 hatches were successful, today's hatch wasn't great with only 2 survivors that's not the hens fault and the next hatch #5 is due in 2 weeks and so far they are all developing. I only see my rooster mate maybe once every 2 weeks but I've only had 1 out of 30 eggs I put out that wasn't fertilized so he's certainly getting the job done. This round I did try candling the eggs 2 days ago and only one had anything in it and the other 5 the yolk was still moving around the egg with nothing there and that was day 4, I candled again today and all the yolks stay in one spot within the egg with veins and a noticeable dot in the middle where the embryo is developing and today is day 6 so with that little trial of 6 eggs I wouldn't expect to see much at day 4. For the 14 day candling I have been looking for movement and sort of compare all the eggs with those, movement is clearly alive but if I don't see any I look at how full the eggs of the living chicks are and pull the obvious empty looking ones and if im not sure I mark the egg and recheck later that day or the next day before pulling it. Most of the eggs I can see the veins pulsing through the shell at day 14 so if I can see that but no movement I leave them in the nest. Darker shells are hard and so far I can sometimes see pulsing veins or I have placed them to my ear and been able to hear little flutters of movement to help me confirm. And lastly if I can't see or hear anything I leave them in the nest and just smell them every few days, never had a rotten egg yet but with 100+ temperatures I don't want to risk an exploding egg.

Thanks for your great reply... I'm taking in all this good stuff from all who post back.. I appreciate so many different perspectives.

 

[Beamerz]

Ah ok, no I wasn't following your other post sorry. I've also had botched hatches due to environmental conditions. I candle no earlier than 10 days, and often I only candle at about day 16 to discard anything at that point. I find it too hard to tell at 4 days, especially outside with the hens hissing at me lol.

Thanks for your feedback, it is so valuable.. I appreciate all the advice everyone or anyone can offer. I'm humbled by my attempts to be a chick grandma!