How do I get my hens to sit on fertilized eggs?

[Rcasady]

Hello, I'm still new to chicken raising. I just got a new roo and he is really enjoying his harem of girls. I'm thinking of letting one of the hens incubate and hatch babes. Do I just leave eggs in the coop/nesting box? How do I get one to sit on the eggs? How long before the eggs just go bad? Can I put eggs I've pulled out of the boxes back in?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You can't make them set. They just have to have the hormones flowing giving them the desire to raise a family.
They either go broody or they don't. Sometimes it helps if you have a broody prone breed. Some breeds almost never go broody.
What breed of hens do you have?

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC!

Here's a good article on broodies: https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...rst-turkey-strut-to-weaning-the-chicks.76878/

 

[Mrs. K]

When hatching your own eggs. Keep a bowl on the counter, date the eggs with a pencil as you gather them. Then use the old ones, keeping the fresh ones just in case. Every couple of days, anything more than 2-3 days, I put in the fridge.

Pray to the broody Gods! Hope you have a good broody breeds. Put a pile of golf balls in the nest, and pray some more.

If you get a bird that looks flat, with a trance like to her eyes, and then as you approach growls and blows up like a beach ball... WAIT 3 day!!!!! Vitally important is to WAIT the 3 days. Because what has happened to me more than once, twice or three times, cause it is so hard to wait, is I set a clutch of eggs... and she is not sure... and gets off, then two days later gets real serious, and I don't have any more eggs to set!

Good luck, I am currently in the piling up of eggs and praying hard stage.

Mrs K

 

[Chicken poppy]

Hello, I'm still new to chicken raising. I just got a new roo and he is really enjoying his harem of girls. I'm thinking of letting one of the hens incubate and hatch babes. Do I just leave eggs in the coop/nesting box? How do I get one to sit on the eggs? How long before the eggs just go bad? Can I put eggs I've pulled out of the boxes back in?

Welcome to BYC! And welcome to chicken owning to, no matter how new you are at chickens, chickens are always fun to raise.

Some breeds are broody more often then others, like for a example, cochins & silkies are pretty broody breeds, and i own some, and they are very much so broody prone breeds.

eggs will not be great after a few days sitting there, fridge eggs, can last up to 2 weeks, but the longer you wait, it can be harder to hatch the egg by a little bit. And past 2 weeks is less of a hatching chance.


you can’t unfortunately get them to sit on them, just gotta hope for the best, or like said by me or others, buy ones that are really prone to be broody.