How long to leave eggs with broody

[jdywntr]

Hi, this is my first time having a broody chicken. My BO went broody but for the first few days one of my extra roos kept chasing her off of the nest. I made him a seperate pen so he'd leave her be.

Per my calendar, she went broody 24 days ago but I posted something about the roo chasing her off the nest 22 days ago. How long should I leave the eggs with her? I know that they were fertile but I am not good at candling (I've had broody ducks) especially in the late stages as the egg just looks dark. I was expecting them to hatch already but so far there is nothing on the eggs I've looked at. No pips etc.

 

[Birdragon]

Well, some eggs are a little late, but it's possible if the hen was off the nest for too long that the eggs died

. I'd say wait a few more days, and if nothing hatches, then perhaps get a new batch of eggs if the hen is still broody.

 

[jdywntr]

Thanks. I'll wait a few days. I don't know if I'll give her more eggs though. I'll need to check her body condition as I don't want her wasting away on the nest. If I take the eggs, maybe I'll see about getting some babies at TSC and seeing if she'll foster them.

 

[chookalina]

I am in the same boat! Good luck! I just started!

 

[jdywntr]

Any other opinions?

 

[jdywntr]

Well, I went and removed her from the nest to have a good look. I generally leave my broody ducks alone and let them do their thing. Well, this hen ended up with 8 additional eggs in her nest!! When she went broody, I marked all of her eggs, 12 of them! So either she was stealing them or others were laying in the nest with her.

I was able to candle some before she started pecking the poop out of me. 3 of the originals were obviously bad, they were sloshy. And I was able to remove 3 others.

I did see movement in one. It looked like a beak poking up into the air cell. So, I'm assuming that is a good sign.

 

[Birdragon]

Well, that would explain it! I'm glad you figured it out! Do you have any idea when these extra eggs are due?

 

[jdywntr]

No idea. I think its been 2 weeks since I counted under her. So, oh well. I've no way of continuing them. I made myself an incubator (nobody else has decided to assist by going broody) but I put 36 eggs in there 8 days ago.

 

[Birdragon]

Has she stopped being broody? I thought she was still sitting on them...