Hens aren't broody...

[sunkistfarm]

My hens are 9 months old and have been laying eggs for some time now. We went on vacation 2 weeks ago and no one collected 3 days worth of eggs. Decided to leave them and see if they would hatch them. When they had @ 30 eggs in there I forgot to close the door on the coop and the dogs got in and stole all of them . I figured I'd try again so they laid @15 eggs in one nesting box and now there are @12 in another box. No one is sitting on them. Just laying eggs. Will someong go broody and sit on one of the nests? Should I put all of the eggs in one nesting box? Is it possible that out of 7 hens no one will want to sit on the eggs? Is there anything I can do to get them to sit on them?
Thanks for any help.

 

[LupinLaneChickens]

I dont know much about hatching eggs but I have tried to get one of my hens to sit on eggs before and it didnt/doesnt work in my experience. Some chickens will just never go broody and some (silkies) wont get off the nest! What breed of chickens do you have?

 

[Judy]

No, unfortunately there isn't a way to make them go broody.

 

[sunkistfarm]

I have one hen house that has EE's in it. The other coop has BR's in it. The BR's have hatched chicks before but they aren't sitting either. Around 30 eggs in the nest and nothing, but one of the hens is moving them around. I put one blue egg in there and every few days it moves from the outside of the nest to the inside so I know someone up there must be interested. But with the EE's...nothing. Yesterday I did see 3 hens in one nesting box. I have no idea what that was about....

 

[sunkistfarm]

Is my only option to incubate them? How long should I wait before I do that?

 

[sunkistfarm]

Maybe it would help if I kept them in the coop for a few days?

 

[stilldeb]

I have a broody splash Silkie that is so desperate to hatch something, she has been sitting on the removable coop thermostat box. (The readout in the house is running about 92 degrees right now!) Wish you could borrow her! I keep holding her and telling her that thing isn't going to hatch, but she is just determined that oh yes it is. We don't really want babies right now, so there she sits on the thermostat box.

deb g
KY

 

[LupinLaneChickens]

I would give up trying to get them to go broody, I tried keeping my hen in the coop with eggs but it doesnt work, they go broody when they want to. For the incubator I have always put them in it as soon as possible, though maybe someone else has a different opinion?