HELP! Broody has stolen an extra 9 eggs 😩

[Nicky S]

We are having one disaster after another with our first time broody. I discovered today that she has stolen an additional 9 eggs to add to the 6 she was sitting on, and I think she's been taking one here and there over many days.

She seemed to have stopped taking in eggs, so we were leaving her be, but I managed to catch her off the nest today and found 15 eggs there. Her first batch would have been due on the 25th, but she lost those after we tried to relocate her, and we think the second lot could be due as early as 2/3 days but we are not not entirely sure as it all got very muddled.

We are going to go and mark the eggs she has right now (I know, we should have done that before) so that we can remove any new eggs, but we had been avoiding disturbing her as it is tricky to move her without her trying to take her eggs with her. I tried giving the other hens a second coop to lay in, but they went absolutely berserk trying to get into the old one.

Should I just leave her (removing any new eggs) until the first eggs hatch and then try to move the others after a few days into an incubator? Can she sit on the ones she has - she's small and 15 seems a lot for her size? Can we expect disaster with the ones we bring in as we won't know their age? The whole humidity thing is worrying me if we bring them inside.

Many thanks.

 

[cherrynberry]

We are having one disaster after another with our first time broody. I discovered today that she has stolen an additional 9 eggs to add to the 6 she was sitting on, and I think she's been taking one here and there over many days.

She seemed to have stopped taking in eggs, so we were leaving her be, but I managed to catch her off the nest today and found 15 eggs there. Her first batch would have been due on the 25th, but she lost those after we tried to relocate her, and we think the second lot could be due as early as 2/3 days but we are not not entirely sure as it all got very muddled.

We are going to go and mark the eggs she has right now (I know, we should have done that before) so that we can remove any new eggs, but we had been avoiding disturbing her as it is tricky to move her without her trying to take her eggs with her. I tried giving the other hens a second coop to lay in, but they went absolutely berserk trying to get into the old one.

Should I just leave her (removing any new eggs) until the first eggs hatch and then try to move the others after a few days into an incubator? Can she sit on the ones she has - she's small and 15 seems a lot for her size? Can we expect disaster with the ones we bring in as we won't know their age? The whole humidity thing is worrying me if we bring them inside.

Many thanks.

Can you candle them and post pictures? If I were you, once chicks start hatching, I would go and run up the incubator. And right when she abandons the nest (she will once most of the chicks hatch), I would put the remaining eggs into the incubator. If eggs are sticking out from under her, they may hatch later than the usual 21 days. But yes, definitely mark the eggs from the get-go, next time.

 

[NatJ]

Should I just leave her (removing any new eggs) until the first eggs hatch and then try to move the others after a few days into an incubator? Can she sit on the ones she has - she's small and 15 seems a lot for her size?

That could work. If the eggs are all safely underneath her, that might be the easiest way to do it. Or you could candle them all, remove any that are NOT developing, and leave her with the rest (at least until the first ones hatch.)

Can we expect disaster with the ones we bring in as we won't know their age? The whole humidity thing is worrying me if we bring them inside.

Disaster? No.

You can estimate their age when you candle them.

During early incubation they need regular turning. (Candling shows veins and/or a small chick.)

At hatching time they need high humidity, and do not need turning (Candling shows a big dark mass of chick that nearly fills the shell, except where the air cell is. If you find pipped eggs, definitely raise the humidity at that point.)



If you have an incubator, and want to get it all sorted out at once, I would do it this way:

--turn on the incubator and run it for 24 hours to make sure you have it set right.

--briefly take every single egg out from under the hen

--Mark every egg, and candle every egg.

--Give the most developed eggs back to the hen (all the ones that seem to be at the same stage of development.)

--Put the others in the incubator. Based on their development, estimate when they are likely to hatch (or post photos here to get an idea of when that is likely to be.) That will help you decide about turning & humidity.

 

[Nicky S]

That could work. If the eggs are all safely underneath her, that might be the easiest way to do it. Or you could candle them all, remove any that are NOT developing, and leave her with the rest (at least until the first ones hatch.)


Disaster? No.

You can estimate their age when you candle them.

During early incubation they need regular turning. (Candling shows veins and/or a small chick.)

At hatching time they need high humidity, and do not need turning (Candling shows a big dark mass of chick that nearly fills the shell, except where the air cell is. If you find pipped eggs, definitely raise the humidity at that point.)



If you have an incubator, and want to get it all sorted out at once, I would do it this way:

--turn on the incubator and run it for 24 hours to make sure you have it set right.

--briefly take every single egg out from under the hen

--Mark every egg, and candle every egg.

--Give the most developed eggs back to the hen (all the ones that seem to be at the same stage of development.)

--Put the others in the incubator. Based on their development, estimate when they are likely to hatch (or post photos here to get an idea of when that is likely to be.) That will help you decide about turning & humidity.

That is so incredibly helpful - thank you! I've been feeling quite desperate, this is such a relief. We just marked the eggs and will order an incubator now to get here Thursday as she is struggling to keep them all underneath. We will go out and candle them in a bit to see what is what - we have the eggs numbered and can keep track that way. We did candle one of the earliest eggs just now (the only one left that was marked) and it was very dark apart from the air sac, so I'm hoping that is good news! We will try to take pics when we candle later today - I hate removing anything in case I missed something. She's been so determined, I'm really hoping to get some babies for her. Thanks again!

 

[Nicky S]

Can you candle them and post pictures? If I were you, once chicks start hatching, I would go and run up the incubator. And right when she abandons the nest (she will once most of the chicks hatch), I would put the remaining eggs into the incubator. If eggs are sticking out from under her, they may hatch later than the usual 21 days. But yes, definitely mark the eggs from the get-go, next time.

Yes thank you - I had been hesitant to candle as I didn't want to disturb her and things kept going wrong, but we will candle later today and try to take pics, though we've struggled with that. At least they are all numbered now! Getting an incubator today and will set it all up. I had understood that I shouldn't touch the eggs at all if they were close to hatching but I'm guessing that it is ok to do a quick candle. Thank you It's like being a new mom all over again

 

[NatJ]

Yes thank you - I had been hesitant to candle as I didn't want to disturb her and things kept going wrong, but we will candle later today and try to take pics, though we've struggled with that. At least they are all numbered now! Getting an incubator today and will set it all up. I had understood that I shouldn't touch the eggs at all if they were close to hatching but I'm guessing that it is ok to do a quick candle. Thank you It's like being a new mom all over again

I sometimes take half the eggs into the house to candle in a dark room, then swap so I can candle the other half of the eggs. The hen stays happier because she still has some eggs, I have less eggs to handle at a time, and I can do it in the daytime. (I do not like trying to candle at night when everything is dark, because I am afraid of tripping and dropping the eggs!)

 

[Nicky S]

I sometimes take half the eggs into the house to candle in a dark room, then swap so I can candle the other half of the eggs. The hen stays happier because she still has some eggs, I have less eggs to handle at a time, and I can do it in the daytime. (I do not like trying to candle at night when everything is dark, because I am afraid of tripping and dropping the eggs!)

Oh yes, I get very paranoid about dropping the eggs so my son does all the handling / candling! It's very icy here right now too which does not help matters. There was one day I picked her up and she had tucked an egg under her wing which then fell, and I've refused to touch any since . Luckily she's the sweetest hen ever and doesn't get too upset with us, but I'm sure she'd prefer to feel the eggs under her the whole time.

 

[Nicky S]

Yes thank you - I had been hesitant to candle as I didn't want to disturb her and things kept going wrong, but we will candle later today and try to take pics, though we've struggled with that. At least they are all numbered now! Getting an incubator today and will set it all up. I had understood that I shouldn't touch the eggs at all if they were close to hatching but I'm guessing that it is ok to do a quick candle. Thank you It's like being a new mom all over again

Here are some pics we just tried to take - we found what we think are late, mid and early/infertile. Apologies for the quality of the pics, it’s not easy

 

[Nicky S]

I’m actually not sure you can see anything very well in the pics. Can’t see blood vessels anywhere ever, so I’m not at all sure. Sorry, we’re 100% new to this!

 

[NatJ]

Here are some pics we just tried to take - we found what we think are late, mid and early/infertile. Apologies for the quality of the pics, it’s not easy

Sorry, I can't tell in the photos.

If the hen is having trouble keeping all the eggs under her, you could take away the early/infertile eggs, and leave the rest until your incubator arrives. Then once you have the incubator there and tested, you can leave the late ones with the hen, and put the mid ones in the incubator.

There was one day I picked her up and she had tucked an egg under her wing which then fell, and I've refused to touch any since

I eventually learned to gently lift each wing before lifting a hen off the nest