isnt she ruining the eggs?

[doop]

My hen has been sitting on her nest from 9-5 everday for two weeks. Isn't this killing the embryo by heating up and cooling off repeatedly. Been leaving them in so hopefully she will go broody.

 

[TheRookie]

She wont just go broody if you leave the eggs there. Thats not a good idea actually. I would take up all the eggs until the next time she tries to go broody, then wait a week to start leaving her some eggs to make sure she is going to stay sitting on the eggs. A true broody will not get up but maybe once a day for maybe 30 min. And if she still has her breast feathers, shes not really broody.

 

[ivan3]

Perfectly normal. She'll eventually eye the clutch, determine that the `magic number' has been reached, and apprise you of the fact by hissing at you from the nest like a pressure cooker at operational temp. Have had ours lay up to 16 before going broody.

 

[jak2002003]

I had a hen like that. It was her first time and I think she got confused. The eggs may be OK, or they may all be dead. Wait a few more days and see if she goes broody and stays on the nest all the time. Than after a few more days candle the eggs to see if they are fertile.

In the meantime save up some other eggs form the other hens. You can then throw away any of her eggs that are not fertile and put the new ones under her (once, if, she has gone broody).

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

hi,
as TheRookie said she is not actually going broody if she is acting like this for two weeks. when turkeys go broody they will only go on and off the nest for a few days at most before settling down. As with geese they will continue to lay while sitting and the eggs will hatch at different times. The eggs the hen is currently on are probably no good given their age and the on and off the nest you have described. Good broodies will go broody completely the first time, often young birds will start to go broody but fail the first time (or two) and leave the nest. turkeys will generally get more broody as they get older, particularly the heritage types. when my royal palm hens get to be three or four years old it is almost impossible to keep them from going broody. leave the eggs there for a couple of hours and they will be broody. Give her a few days off and then try giving her some chicken eggs and see if she goes broody properly before letting her sit on the turkey eggs. Also if you really want some poults this season then get an incubator and use that.

 

[ivan3]

poultrypalacewhidbey wrote: hi, as TheRookie said she is not actually going broody if she is acting like this for two weeks. when turkeys go broody they will only go on and off the nest for a few days at most before settling down.

Yes, but OP didn't say that the hen had stopped laying. Ours might spend only 15min. on the first day (scraping nest/laying egg) before wandering off. As the egg count rises more of their day is spent on the nest ~4-6hr. They will then `sneak' back for evening forage and roosting with the flock. Depending on the jenny/hen she might go broody on egg number 7 or, in the case of the Royal whose nest is displayed below, 14 (nest destroyed and covered with log - 13 eggs placed in authorized nest in shed - 24hr.s later she was parked on nest for duration) If the OP's hen had stopped laying and was acting like this, then yes, remove eggs and keep fingers crossed (ours usually just abandon nests they have a problem with, and immediately search out another location)..

.

 

[doop]

This is her first year laying, and she would sit a little longer each day where now she shows up for dinner and goes in coop to roost. My other hen from what it sounds like might be going broody. She is losing her breast feathers and when I go to chase her off nest she hisses at me I even sent my lab in to get her up and he stopped short and looked at me like you're kidding right. I can't let her nest where she's at because she unprotected in the woods. I tried penning her up but she just cries all day she will lay in pen but after I let her out she still goes and sits in old nest. I have 24 eggs in incubator now on day 13,but wanted to sell or give those away and keep hen raised poults so mom could teach them how to stay alive as i free range during the day. After losing my original Tom to a fox my hens are pretty leery of stray animals now. Guineas seem to help too.

 

[ruralmom]

I have a Beltville white hen sitting on 17 eggs, I candled 8 and five were developing and three were not fertile. She hissed but did allow me to take and return the eggs. She has been sitting on the eggs since the 15th of April and we have never seen her off the nest. Now my DH said she is off and in the yard just scratching around. She has returned to the nest. Will that effect the eggs? It is trying to snow here. She is only one and the second time to go broody. We stopped her the first time since it was in January and the boys were not getting the 'job' done. They are free range.

 

[poultrypalacewhidbey]

If she was only off for a short period of time they should be fine. I have had trouble with snow killing the eggs when broodies get up to eat etc. If the hen is covering the nest when it leaves this will help. Leaving the nest for up to 20 minutes a day should be considered normal although many broodies will only leave for a minute or two in order to drink and eat if they are getting a ration fed to them. Since she is free range I would expect her to spend a bit of time each day off of the nest so that she can get food.

 

[ruralmom]

My Beltville white hen hatched out 11 chicks with 9 surviving. She is still on the nest with 6 under her but she has not hatched out another since Monday/Tuesday. We will give her to the weekend and then cull the eggs. I am so proud of her, this is her first clutch ( she is only one) and she hatched out so many. Will have the poults up for sale by fall.