I want to hatch some eggs! Any advice?

[askjcm2005]

Hello: I have 4 hens that are laying and 1 rooster. They eggs are fertile but the hens wont lay on them long enough to hatch them but I could be wrong. Do they keep laying everyday until there is what they consider enough eggs to sit on? Will they not sit on them until a certain day? My mom is crazy about her electricity bill and doesnt want me to get an incubator and my silkies are not old enough yet. My mom wants to eat the eggs where I dont really care, Id rather have chicks but I gave in and brought in all the eggs for her, there was about 15. There was blood in most of them some more then others but nothing that looked much more developed then that. Does that mean the hens were doing good? They leave them at night time, thats what bothers me. They will sit on them alot throughout the day but do take lots of breaks but are protective and make a funny noise when any other chicken tries to enter her coop where she is sitting on eggs. Any advise?

 

[danielle82]

Quote:
you'll know when your hen goes broody, she will sit on the eggs and not leave but once a day or just a few times a day, to eat and drink and poop (broody poops are very noticable!) she will sit on them all night. Eggs need to stay right around 100 degrees F for 21 days in order to hatch. I don't think there is anyway to "make" a broody hen. Your silkies will probably want to brood some, so don't give up if your current 4 layers don't do it. *Most* Mommas wait until spring/summer around my place to brood, so i dunno if winter is a deterrrent where you are (how cold your winters are) .

 

[danielle82]

I just saw you are In S.D. probably not too cold there huh?

 

[askjcm2005]

Sorry for sucha late reply. And yeah our summers are not too cold here in San Diego although I guess I dont really know what COLD is. I think its freezing at my house when I wake up at 5am and its about 30 degrees outside. I think our lowest in my area (I live in the moutains) is 25 degrees and a high of about 70 in the winter. Summer it doesnt get cold at all and it get as hot as 110.

Thanks for the info. I have heard silkies are good at hatching so hopefully 1 of my 10 will.

I just today found the first egg from a new layer and its tiny compared to the others so I think its a silkie!!! SO excited!!!! Would they want to wait until there is enough eggs to even want to sit on them? Or will they sit on a couple eggs? I have just been taking them out to eat because they wont sit on them enough.