LF Cochin Pullet has gone broody...concerned over small size of her eggs...

[LittleRedCoopLady]

Happy Easter Everyone
My LF Cochin is 10 months old and has gone broody. My concern is that her eggs are smaller than my other LF Cochin hen that is with her. Will her chicks develop ok inside of the small egg?

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Probably, they’ll just be smaller chicks. You could always switch out the eggs under her for different ones. Just make sure to mark the ones you want under her so some newer ones aren’t half developed when the rest hatch.

 

[LittleRedCoopLady]

Probably, they’ll just be smaller chicks. You could always switch out the eggs under her for different ones. Just make sure to mark the ones you want under her so some newer ones aren’t half developed when the rest hatch.

Thank you so much for your reply this will be our first go around with a broody hen and chicks. I checked on her this afternoon and she had left the two eggs she was sitting on and moved to the other nest box. The eggs were cool, but I put them back under her anyway. She did not like me attempting to move her! I believe one of the eggs was cracked, so I’ll need to remove it tomorrow. I’m considering moving her to a large dog crate where she wouldn’t be able to switch nests.....would that be worth it to though considering there are only three eggs?

 

[floppysquirrel04]

Thank you so much for your reply this will be our first go around with a broody hen and chicks. I checked on her this afternoon and she had left the two eggs she was sitting on and moved to the other nest box. The eggs were cool, but I put them back under her anyway. She did not like me attempting to move her! I believe one of the eggs was cracked, so I’ll need to remove it tomorrow. I’m considering moving her to a large dog crate where she wouldn’t be able to switch nests.....would that be worth it to though considering there are only three eggs?

I would move her into a crate. If she likes getting up and down, you might want to have a bator ready just in case she quits at some point. I think it would be worth it for a few more, and you could buy other eggs under her that aren’t her own.

 

[ariri30]

Thank you so much for your reply this will be our first go around with a broody hen and chicks. I checked on her this afternoon and she had left the two eggs she was sitting on and moved to the other nest box. The eggs were cool, but I put them back under her anyway. She did not like me attempting to move her! I believe one of the eggs was cracked, so I’ll need to remove it tomorrow. I’m considering moving her to a large dog crate where she wouldn’t be able to switch nests.....would that be worth it to though considering there are only three eggs?

I have a 6 month pullet broody sitting on 8 eggs that I collected from all the others chickens. For the first couple of days when I got home from work she was sitting on the wrong nest. I tried to move her to a private spot in a cage and she stop sitting on the eggs. I waited for the night and took her eggs and moved her to the spot I wanted her to be and she’s going to be there for a week. If you are going to move her wait till the dark and hopefully she’ll stay.

 

[LittleRedCoopLady]

Thank you so much for your reply this will be our first go around with a broody hen and chicks. I checked on her this afternoon and she had left the two eggs she was sitting on and moved to the other nest box. The eggs were cool, but I put them back under her anyway. She did not like me attempting to move her! I believe one of the eggs was cracked, so I’ll need to remove it tomorrow. I’m considering moving her to a large dog crate where she wouldn’t be able to switch nests.....would that be worth it to though considering there are only three eggs?

I have another question.... probably silly, but since the eggs were all laid on different days, will the chicks hatch on three different days?

 

[ariri30]

I have another question.... probably silly, but since the eggs were all laid on different days, will the chicks hatch on three different days?

Incubation start when the hen start sitting on the eggs no when the eggs are lay. They all hatch within 24 hours of each other or less. Don’t add new eggs after she starts sitting on them because then you’ll have chicks hatching on different days and once the first chicks start coming out the hen will abandon the ones that didn’t hatch on time to take care of the ones that are out.

 

[LittleRedCoopLady]

So, I removed one cracked egg today, so Linda is only sitting on one egg Are the chances good that she will hatch this lone egg?