Hen laying eggs??

[gsp31]

Our royal palm hen that we hatched last year layed her first egg. My question is that we want to incubate some of hers and let her try to sit on some. If we gather up the first dozen how should they be held and for how long?

I was thinking about just putting them in an egg carton, small end down, and putting them in an old refrigerator in our shed that isn't on. Should stay around 50 or so in there since the shed is insulated. If the door is shut, is there an issue with lack of air? Also, how long can I hold them like that until we start to incubate?

Hatched 6/6 last spring but the dog got 4, luckily we were left with a gobbler and a hen with a bad foot, hence the name Hoppy!

 

[turkey guru]

need air, turn twice a day,and no longer than 7 days before set! 1st I would see if I could get a hen(chicken) to go broody, 6 eggs to her,collect eggs for incubator,start it, then let her( turkey hen) set on some eggs! cover all the bases tom!!!

 

[Struttn1]

Let her get about 3 or 4 eggs in her nest then you can remove 1 a day until you get what you want to incubate. As long as she has 2 or 3 eggs in the nest she will keep laying. Once you have all you want to incubate she will finish laying her clutch then she will sit. if you remove all of them she will abandon the nest. Be sure to mark the eggs in the nest so you are always removing the older egg.

 

[turkey guru]

I disagree, take they egg every day less chance of her breaking it ,leaving a few eggs in the nest will cause her to go broody and stop laying! everyday take egg ,store cool place w/air, turn 2 times a day , little end down, no more then 7 days before you set them, but hey, what do I know I just stored and hatched 2,430 turkey eggs last year!

 

[Struttn1]

You have every right to disagree but I stated the method I use and have used for years and it works just fine. My experience over the years is that when all eggs are removed it can cause the hen to stop laying eggs daily. leaving 2 or 3 eggs in a nest puts the eggs at no great risk for breakage if the hen is getting sufficient calcium intake. I have never had a hen go broody on a handful of eggs now matter how many I remove. All the hens I have dealt with over the years loved large clutches of eggs.

 

[turkey guru]

some of my hens go broody on a empty nest, the hen will bang the eggs with her legs and each other! I would take a lot of this turkey information with a grain of salt! good luck TOM111

 

[VerlonCox]

I do a mixture of each of you guys actually. I leave one egg (I mark it with an erasable marker) when I find a nest. I collect eggs daily and at the end of 5 or 6 days I will snag the old egg for the incubator (along with the others) and let her have a new egg with a new mark on it. It seems to work out for me, I guess its all what you are comfortable with. I have seen hens go broody with just one egg in the nest, my guess is that they get tired of dealing with me and just decide that's as good as its going to get! I think that the one egg left there makes them think "Did I lay an egg yesterday?" every time that they see it.

 

[gsp31]

Thanks for all the suggestions. Sounds like everybody has different methods and I'm open to any more.

 

[Struttn1]

Yo guru

Your hens might not try to brood empty nests if you would stop stealing all their eggs and leave 2 or 3 in there.

Maybe you need a few hatching eggs from my hens in order to raise the IQ level of your flock so your hens can count their eggs.