How long should i leave eggs in a nest for?

[adorable]

ok, I am a bit confused.I was told if you leave eggs in a nest . Someone will go broody and take over. Well i am still waiting. I have only silkies. IS there something else i am not doing. I know you cant make one go broody. But there is 10 eggs. NO one is interested and it is getting cold here. I cant leave them much longer incase they will freeze. How much long should i leave them in the nest for ?. Before i pick them up.

 

[Uzuri]

You'll need to wait until the hens starts to show signs of going broody and then leave the eggs in. All you get if you leave eggs in for uninterested hens is rotten eggs.

 

[adorable]

ahh. Ok. but what are the signs of going broody. Besides not comeing out of the nest.

 

[Uzuri]

Just so you know I'm not ignoring you, I'll hop in to admit that I know little more than that. Other than sticking in the nest box and acting like she has a bad case of PMS, I don't know any more signs. But there are others here who do, and a quick search for "signs of being broody" should turn you up more

 

[adorable]

ok. I did the search. And some have mentioned if you have the breed that goes broody. Which i do. And if you leave the eggs in the nest. Which i did. So far there is 10. Maybe there has to be more. I am going to hold off taking them for the rest of the week. If not by saturday. Then i am takeing them. It is suppose to be colder then. Wish me luck

 

[rhoda_bruce]

leave wooden eggs in the boxes. When the hen goes broody, give her real ones, that you have marked with a permanant marker. Then go to her every afternoon and take whatever fresh eggs the other girls tried to sneak under her.

 

[elmo]

It just might be the wrong time of year for this (in the opinion of your hens). I had two young pullets that tried to go broody last week even though they only had one egg between them because they both have fowl pox and have stopped laying. They're sisters, and they tried to nest together in the same box.

I pushed them out of the nest box and took it away for a while. They did not need to be in there fasting while trying to recover from pox. They puffed up, hissed and shrieked at me like those dinosaurs that ate the nerdy computer guy in that Jurassic Park movie.