Leaving eggs in the nest

[jprice2ndlt]

Will leaving eggs int the nesting boxs temp a hen to go broody. i would really like some more EE but i dont have an incubator.

 

[cochins1088]

It's pretty depedent on the breed, and I've never had EEs but if I leave eggs out for any more than 2 days, I swear every hen in our coop is broody. But we have mostly cochins and they are know to be very broody birds. We have about 15 nesting boxes for the 22 hens because many of them seem to stay broody even if I continue taking the eggs everyday, so nearly each one has a chicken in it all the time. But yes, that is one of the best ways to get them to be broody. I've also heard of using golf balls so that you aren't wasting eggs in the beginning, they mistake them for eggs and once they become broody, you can go down at night and switch the golf balls for real fertile eggs. So go for it but the breed makes a big difference on wether or not they'll go broody, as some commerial breeds have bred the brooding instinct out of them.

 

[cochins1088]

And if it's the incubator price that scares you, my first incubator was a cheap $35 styrofoam Hova Bator, model 1602N without any extras and still got a great hatch rate of 19 chicks out of 20 eggs.