How Do I Hatch Fertile Eggs? Please Help a Newbie Out!

[jlgoinggreen]

Hi Everyone,
I have a hen I noticed always lays in the same spot. Her eggs aren't fertile, but I know if I left them there, she will sit on them. We just got a rooster and hen a couple of days ago who are currently in a cage until everyone gets used to each other (we had 15 hens before). The new hen is laying fertile eggs and my son and I would love to hatch them. We've thought of building a homemade incubators (everyone has posted such awesome ones on here), but I was wondering if for now one of my older chickens might adopt them. So far I have two I would like to put under her. How should I do this? My son (who has no patience) has already put them in the nest she always uses (not a real nest, she made it for herself on the floor of the coop). Is this the right thing to do?

Any advice for us? Pleeeeeaaaassssseeee!!!!!

 

[farmerlor]

Quote:
Why sure! Just mark the fertile eggs and put them under the hen who's sitting and remove the eggs that she's laying that aren't fertile. When she stops laying eggs stop giving her fertile eggs and leave her be. Hopefully she'll incubate a whole bunch of little babies for you. Good luck.

 

[yourhighness]

Mark em with pen or sharpie (it's safe, no worries there), not pencil! It'll rub off

 

[Kittymomma]

Is she sitting on the eggs or just laying someplace other then the nest box? Not all hens go broody and while hiding a nest can be a sign that one is trying it's not always--some of them just like to be sneaky. What breed is your hen?

 

[jlgoinggreen]

Thanks Everyone.

My hens are Buff Orpingtons. The new hen is half Buff Orpington and half Ameraucana. She is laying Green eggs, my BO's lay Brown eggs. Do you think she will notice and not lay? When you say mark eggs, do you mean date them?

I really do not know if she is broody? How do I know if a hen is broody?

 

[Kittymomma]

Orpingtons are one of the breeds known for going broody and I have an EE who is broody now so you have a chance. You'll know she's broody when she won't come off her nest, she might even get some attitude about you messing with her. I don't mark eggs with the date, but you could. I just number them in the order they were layed so I can pull the older (less likely to develop) ones out if the hen gets more then 12 or so in her clutch. My EE that is broody was always really good about laying in the nest boxes then suddenly decided to hide a nest--ten days later she went into full broody mode and wouldn't get off her nest.

Something else you should be thinking about is whether or not you want to seperate her from the flock if she does go broody. I would have liked to keep mine in with the rest, but didn't want to risk broken eggs from other hens laying in the broodies nest or having her driven off the nest by a more dominent hen. I've also read posts where the broody girl gets confused after her daily food/water/poo break and gets back on the wrong nest so if you do choose to keep her in with the main flock you'll want to figure out a way to block her area off.