how long will my broodies continue to sit?

[stone_family3]

Their eggs didn't hatch and finding chicks close to me is hard. Could I put more eggs under them?

 

[sumi]

Yes, I've done that with some of mine and they sat until the new eggs hatched.

 

[jak2002003]

NO.

That will be too much for them. They now need a break to exorcise their muscles and get into condition again.

I recommend you to take any left over eggs away from them. They will naturally stop sitting after a few more days as their biological clock tells them they are past the time for the eggs to hatch.

Don't worry, they will go broody really quickly again after this. In the wild if a clutch is destroyed or does not hatch, the hen will waste not time laying another. They just need a break of a week or 2.

Why do you think the eggs did not hatch? Maybe a problem with the rooster or hen to rooster ratio?

 

[stone_family3]

When I candled at day 14 eggs all looked great, then they started to get broken, eaten. When I cleaned out the nests on day 17, I candled again and only six were still living out of 24. Now it's 3 days past due date and I'm down to 3 duck eggs. I did have one egg pip, but it died.

If I could find them some chicks I would just put some broken egg shells (cleaned from breakfast) under them with the chicks to make them think they hatched them. I'm having a horrible time finding day old chicks that aren't costing me a fortune.

 

[stone_family3]

Well I removed all the eggs, because they were dead

Today they seem up and out a bit more then and hopefully they'll be out of broody mode soon enough.