Indoor hen, thinking of putting some ferile eggs under Holly

[chickencrazylady]

Hi all,
I have a hen that started laying about 3 weeks ago. Out in the coop I have a white silkie roo and 8 hen, 2 frizzle, 1 American game and the rest are mixes.

Since Holly is indoors, and laying, and living in a extra large dog kennel, my g/f suggested that I maybe grab some eggs from the coop and place under Holly and see what I get for chicks.

Question: If I start to gets eggs under Holly (right now I get 5-6 eggs a day from the coop) should I just place the normal amount from the coop or should I do this for a couple of days??
Leaving the eggs in with Holly, will she automatically set on them?
How long does it take for a hen to hatch out chicks, never don this before.


Holly is staying indoors now until next spring anyways.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

 

[strawboss]

We've had an indoor silkie hen also. It sits in my mom's lap each evening for a while and they "talk". My first therepy hen!?!? Any way I'd put the eggs under her all at once but if she doesn't sit on the nest all day already she may not "sit" the eggs. She needs to be broody. 21 days to hatch and if they are not all incubated at the same time she'll come off before they are all hatched.Good luck

 

[gryeyes]

Hens have to be broody to set on eggs. Just having a nest (indoors or out) isn't sufficient. This is hormonal, and they stay on the nest all the time, only leaving to get something to eat, drink, and to poop once a day, maybe twice a day at first.

A broody hen will flatten out over the eggs, but fluff up and make a distinctly "Keep away!" growling noise when you try to reach for her or her eggs.

 

[chickencrazylady]

Quote:
Holly and I have coffee every morning while she talks to me and coos.

So maybe I should Not take her egg away everyday and wait for a few days and see what happens with her first, before I place fertile under her????

 

[bobbi-j]

Not taking her eggs away will not make her broody. You can't force broodiness. You'll know if she is. Gryeyes described it very well.

 

[Kadjain]

I have a Thai hen, which is a broody breed, that showed no signs of broodyness. I still stuck her in a large dog crate with 10 eggs. The next day she was sitting heavy and very broody. There's nothing wrong with leaving some eggs in there to see if she takes to them, if you don't mind wasting the eggs if she doesn't take to them.

Here is the Thai hen (above) after she hatched them out.
And here is my Silkie cross that just recently hatched out a clutch of 11 eggs. I say try it, Silkies are super broody and I bet she'll take to the eggs.

 

[BamaSilkies]

I would leave her eggs and watch her and if starts going broody then replace them with the fertile eggs.

 

[donrae]

I agree, sometimes the large group of eggs can help trigger the broodiness. I'd leave her own eggs, or use golf balls/plastic eggs etc. to try to tempt her into brooding.

But, do you have room inside for her to raise chicks? Chicks are noisy and dusty, even if raised by momma. And they need room to move around safely.