Help with broody hen

perlover48

In the Brooder
Apr 5, 2016
65
1
39
About a week or two ago I was given a broody hen from a family member since he didnt have a rooster and she would just be a nuisance to him. Now since I've gotten her she hasn't gone broody again. I was wondering if there were any good ways to get her broody again since I need to hatch some chicks for a friend and the incubator isn't working since every time the yolks break inside the eggs. Btw she is a black sex link. I don't know if that breed is prone to broodiness or if that was a one time thing.
 
Unfortunately you can't make a hen go broody, it is totally dictated by hormones.

Additionally, sex links are usually not broody so it may indeed have been a one time thing. I had a red sex link go broody, but she only did it once and has never done it again. Still, since yours has shown that she goes broody, there is still the chance she will do it again.

However, since you need chicks right away, maybe we can help you with the incubator. What kind is it? What are you keeping your temp and humidity at when incubating? How many times do you turn the eggs each day, or do you have an autoturner? Maybe we can get this figured out for you so you can hatch. I've never heard of an incubator breaking yolks.
 
I have a little giant still air incubator with the automatic egg turner. I keep the humidity at a 40-45% level and temp at 100-101 usually it will stay at 100. The first time it went all perfectly fine until lock down. The humidity went up to 65% and then the temperature went all the way up to 110. Now for the last 2 attempts I've done everything the same but now the yolks all broke.
 
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LGs can be hard to use. At lockdown time 65% humidity is actually a good thing, but 110 F for a prolonged amount of time would have killed them, unfortunately. Your usual temp is actually a little low - when incubating still air you want the temperature to be 101.5 degrees measured at the top of the egg.

How did your air cells look? Did they develop according to this chart?

700


As for the broken yolks, how did you determine they were broken? Did the embryos develop at all that time? Were the eggs shipped or local?
 
My eggs came from my hens and the air sack looked a bit big like the 14th day because that's about how long I kept them in the incubator. The chicks where very very small and the oldest looked to be the size of a pea. I first candled the egg and yolk would be at the top of where I rotated the egg so if the air sack was on the bottom then the yolk would be at the very top and i would see no veins but before at day 5 i saw veins. I opened the egg carefully by removing small parts of the egg shell and using that to cut the membrane. The yolk was broken in each egg. :(
 
That sounds like they all quit early - the egg yolk does start to break down during incubation when the egg isn't viable any longer. You may have had a temp spike you were unaware of :(

Another question - how are you positioning them in the turner? They have to be fat end/air cell up. You probably know this but in case others read this thread down the line I just want to put that out there.
 
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Yeah i put the large end up. Yesterday I put new eggs in but i opened one just in case if it was broken before incubation and it wasn't broken so its definitively during incubation.
 
Yeah i don't have any windows open but i think the temperature changes because it all depends if the door is open to the air conditioner is open or not.
 

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