Help me decide - break my broody or not?

[gritsar]

As I've talked about in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=436316 it appears there is something wrong with my broodys eggs. Either that or I really stink at candling. She is on day 9. She, a SF named Doe, appears to really know what she is doing, despite being only 7 months old. I've watched her turn her eggs, settle herself carefully on them, do all sorts of broody things.

She is very dedicated. She refuses to get off the eggs, so I force her off once a day. When I do, she'll go out and eat, drink (alot!), poop and sometimes take a quick dustbath. Today she discovered that she has food and water right in front of her, so now I don't have to worry about her starving.

The coop she is in is fairly warm, being insulated well. We're having a mild winter so far. Some days it only gets into the 40s, but mostly 50s with lows at night in the 20s or 30s. She's in a large dog crate, so I'm not too worried about her raising babies in the coop.

So, I think I need to replace her eggs assuming they still look empty when we candle again this weekend. I have three choices. One, I could break her. Two, I can try to get eggs from a friend in Texas under her as quick as possible, but that will take approx. 5 days, adding approx. two weeks to her setting time. Or three, I can try again with some more of my brahma eggs. I know they are fertile when I crack them open for eating, so I'm not quite sure why the four I gave her aren't working.

Can't decide. Help me decide please!

P.S. I have also emailed a friend in town about getting some fertile eggs, but I'm not sure if she has any or not. Haven't heard back yet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Two and three. Get the Texas eggs but try some of the Brahma's again, if you decide those are no good.

 

[spartacus_63]

If it were me I would replace the eggs after candling. As long as she is eating she will be fine. Of course this may be a selfish recommendation because I am currently suffering from DTs due to lack of little fluffy butts.

 

[chicks4kids]

I also would replace them. Don't worry about her setting time. Last year I had a cochin that sat a full 23 days on not one single egg hatched. I set another 5 eggs under her the following day and 21 days later they hatched. She was so dedicated...sat for for 45 days total. I gave her food and water right in front of her so she could eat and drink without moving too. I was concerned about her health the 2nd time through, but she did wonderful. I gave her alot of scrambled eggs for extra protein plus vitamins in her water once a week.

Good luck

 

[sourland]

Really dark shelled eggs can be hard to candle. If you still don't see anything on the next candling, break one of the eggs and check it. If it is fertile, that's one chick lost, but you still have the other eggs under the hen. Do you see the bullseye when you crack your eggs for eating? Hopefully, your rooster is not shooting blanks. Hoping for veining.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Yes I see the bullseye when cracking them. In fact, it's pretty routine that out of every dozen brahma eggs I crack open for eating, 11 will be fertile. I assume the one that is not fertile is from the light brahma hen "Snowy" that won't let my rooster anywhere near her.
The eggs from the baby coop are simply not large enough yet for me to feel comfortable about their hatching ability.
My brahmas haven't been out of their molt all that long and I know Thor wasn't mating the girls while he and they molted. Perhaps that's what went wrong with the first eggs I gave the broody.

 

[happymorrows]

Go with more eggs from your LBs I say! It will have her sitting the least amount of time if you do that.

 

[gritsar]

Thanks y'all. I am going to start setting aside some of the best looking brahma eggs starting tomorrow. She's such a good broody and I've wanted this for so long.

 

[chicks4kids]

Awesome news grit!! Just be sure to give her plenty of nutrition!

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Sure will. I am feeding her a combination of the layer feed and "black rooster" which is a gamebird feed/scratch.