how long does a hen have to sit on her eggs befor the embryo starts to develope..

[neugene]

ok so here go's. hi everyone this is my queston i normally incubate my eggs however one of my free range Rhodies decided to go broody on me and started to sit on one egg.. so being the kind man i am i put 9 eggs under her at night and waited patiently to see wat will happen the next day.. at about 9 in the morning she hopped off her nest and didnt return till that evening at roosting time where she spent the hole night on the nest again to jump off the next morning...ok so here the questions 1. could it be cause she is an inexperienced mother. 2. will the eggs have started to form inside and will they be damaged due to irregular incubation from the hens part..looking forward to getting a response

 

[spikennipper]

Well it depends if she was actually brooding them or standing over them, hens will not begin brooding until the clutch is complete or until they believe it is! Rhodies are notorious for being poor broodies though I have had one that has been good is she still laying? is she acting broody and clucking softly? she may need her own space if she lives with other chickens as they may be disturbing her, once brooding commences it is not normal for the hen to get of them at all apart from to eat and toilet for a few minutes or so each day so if she is staying off them all day it doesn't sound like she is, an embryo is visible via candling at around 3 days on light shelled eggs.

 

[neugene]

thanks so much for the advice that does shed some light on my situation... still trying to find out once a hen sits and th eggs reach the right temp do they start to form imediatly..

 

[spikennipper]

Once the egg has got up to incubation temperature around 37.5 degrees I'd imagine it would start to form yes but it's more in cells just splitting rather than a visible embryo it really depends how long the egg was kept at this temperature for, I'm not sure on the exact time an egg needs to be brooded for before it forms to the point of no return and then dies when it gets cold but if they have formed and she is definitely brooding them over night then I would say they are non viable if she is leaving them un brooded all day.

 

[neugene]

thank you have been a great help. i put them in the incubator anyways to see wat happens i hope the hatch