I need help, tips, advice and experience on hatching eggs under broody

[Nenad]

So my pullet has been sitting from 10th ferburay and today shipped eggs arrived. She covered them- 10 shipped and I left 2 of hers under her. Those 2 are on 7-8th day of incubating under her. Should I wait for those two to hatch and then separate them from mommy(and then reintroduce them after those 10 hatch) ? Should I throw them?
If I let them hatch and then separate them first morning when they hatch , will she continue to sit on other 10 eggs or will she get up and abandon them?
Should I take them out on 18-19th day and incubate them somehow for 2 days untill they hatch? I don't have incubator, she is cross between japanese bantam(75%) and cochin bantam(25%).
Thank you all!

 

[DobieLover]

It's never a good idea to have a staggered hatch. Even one day difference in the hatch can cause problems for the late hatcher. It can't keep up well with the others. A week is way too long. The hen will abandon unhatched eggs within 48 hours of the first egg hatching.

You should have let her stay broody on fake eggs.

Did you let the shipped eggs settle for a day before giving them to her?

You will have to remove and raise the first two that hatch in a brooder. You might be able to reintroduce them to her when the shipped egg chicks are about a week old and highly mobile. It's up to the personality of the hen. I did have a broody hen that hatched a lone chick and adopted 6 bantam chicks that were taken from their horrible mother. The bantam chicks were 3 weeks older than the broody hen's chick and she raised them all together just fine but she is a very level headed sweet hen.

Set up a brooder in your garage or somewhere else with outdoor temperatures but that is secure. I would also strongly recommend you use a brooder plate or a momma heating pad as the heat source and make sure that there is lots of fresh air in the brooder for the first hatched chicks. And hope that both eggs hatch so you don't have a lonely little chick in there.

After the shipped eggs hatch, let mom raise them until she is ready to move them out. I would then put the older chicks in with her but put them and their heat source, food/water in a large wire dog crate with openings in the wire large enough for the chicks to come and go from it but not the hen. See how she reacts to them being there. If she takes them, great. If not, you'll have to finish brooding them on your own.

Good luck.