Loki's broody adventure

[apryl29]

I have 1 yr old black australorp who is broody. She's been sitting on 4 eggs since May 15th. I came home to find that she was sitting on some eggs that others laid that day. I selected 4 of the eggs for her to keep (we don't have tons of space for new birds, but had always said if someone went broody we'd let them hatch). The hens had been out w/ our leghorn rooster the day before (he's typically separated) & they are always w our BBOE rooster so I expected fertilized eggs b/c we've seen that our eggs were fertilized in the past. She really seems to be invested in the process. I haven't physically seen her off the nest since Wednesday when she got up to go outside w/ the rest of the chickens, but would go back every few minutes and check on them, then she'd puff up so big that she looked like a turkey.
I candled the eggs last night and I'm concerned that she has only one viable egg at this point. This is my first experience w/ hatching eggs & a broody hen so I have no idea what I'm doing. Any advice or insight would be appreciated.

egg #1: this is the one where the mass is much larger than the others which makes me think it's developing, but I'm not able to see any veins or anything... though the shell is kind of dark.

egg #2: (excuse the sharpie.. didn't realize I shouldn't use marker on the eggs until I read more later)

egg #3:

egg #4:

 

[Jay E.]

Broody hen's will get off her nest at least once a day. To do the normal, eat, drink and poop. As time goes on she will kick out any bad eggs. We had a hen go broody this past September. She was only 7 months old, she wound up being an awesome momma.

 

[Jay E.]

By the way good luck with the hen. Also watch out for other hen's giving her more eggs to sit on...Lol Our broody hen only started with 7, then to 15, and 22. Don't worry we took at least half away when we found them and we're able to candle them.

 

[MadChickenMama]

Good luck! I just started my first incubation today. I am excited to follow you and your chicken on this adventure!

 

[apryl29]

By the way good luck with the hen. Also watch out for other hen's giving her more eggs to sit on...Lol Our broody hen only started with 7, then to 15, and 22. Don't worry we took at least half away when we found them and we're able to candle them.

That's great to know. I'd read to take away the ones that don't develop, but I was worried I'd take on away too soon. I've tried to check her every day to see if there's any extras. My girls have a favorite nest which I moved Loki out of one the 2nd day b/c the others were climbing in w her to lay and shoved her off the nest. So far they've been leaving her alone in her current nest.

Good luck! I just started my first incubation today. I am excited to follow you and your chicken on this adventure!

Thanks & Good luck to you too!

 

[drumstick diva]

Sending good hatching vibes your way

 

[MontanaChickDoc]

At day 5 or 6 you should be able to see what looks like a spider developing on the yolk - a central dark dot with blood vessels radiating out from it like spider's legs. I don't see anything like that yet, but I would keep checking every couple of days. If you don't see some really strong veining by day 8 or 9, then they are duds I have 6 broodies at the moment and 4 of them are playing musical nests. It's making me very anxious. I would like to get them into separate boxes (rather than the regular nest boxes where 4 of them are now) but my April hatched chicks are in my brooder at the moment and my broody duck is in my "intro pen" where the babies usually go when they are feathered enough to go out. I am thinking dog crates and tarps for lack of a better solution.

 

[apryl29]

Sending good hatching vibes your way

Thanks!

At day 5 or 6 you should be able to see what looks like a spider developing on the yolk - a central dark dot with blood vessels radiating out from it like spider's legs. I don't see anything like that yet, but I would keep checking every couple of days. If you don't see some really strong veining by day 8 or 9, then they are duds I have 6 broodies at the moment and 4 of them are playing musical nests. It's making me very anxious. I would like to get them into separate boxes (rather than the regular nest boxes where 4 of them are now) but my April hatched chicks are in my brooder at the moment and my broody duck is in my "intro pen" where the babies usually go when they are feathered enough to go out. I am thinking dog crates and tarps for lack of a better solution.

Thanks! I'll check them again later this week and see if I see anything. If these ones aren't going to hatch I'd like to give her more eggs as soon as possible so she's not sitting on the nest forever for nothing. I guess there's the chance that she'll get so far along and just accept there's no babies & stop being broody.
I had one that wasn't broody that climbed in to Loki's nest. I had to evict my rooster to an outside pen b/c I have a molter that a couple others won't stop pecking at that needed his run, I'm hoping she's fully feathered before the babies hatch, but I'm not counting on it. How much space do they really need after the babies hatch? I have a small dog cage inside the coop that I'm going to move Loki into if I need to, but right now everyone's leaving her alone so I don't want to mess w/ her (esp since it's looking more and more like there will be no babies from this set. You said you have an intro pen... how long do you keep the babies separated from the older birds before you let them mingle?

She did steal an egg yesterday & tried to hide it in her pile. I considered letting her keep it, but if #1 does hatch she'd probably abandon any new eggs.

 

[apryl29]

I candled Loki's eggs Wed night and I'm seeing veining in #1, but the other 3 look like nothing's happening. I'll candle them again tonight and if the other 3 still look empty I'm going to remove them from the nest. She did try to steal an egg on Tuesday, but I caught her and took it.

 

[apryl29]

I checked all the eggs again on Saturday night, there still wasn't anything growing so I removed them. I cracked them all and they weren't fertilized. #1 appears to still be growing. I can still see veins through the shell. She's got about 1 more week to go so we'll see what happens.