moving eggs from incubator to broody hen

[digitalsniper]

My Game hen just went broody a few days ago, and I have about 8 eggs in the incubator that are less than 6 days from hatching.
I would LOVE to swap out her eggs with the ones in the incubator and let her raise them. Im just curious if she will hatch them since she just went broody. Do they have a clock in their head that would tell her they hatched to quickly and abandon them?
My reasoning is since its turning chilly (im in florida), my house temp fluxuates from day to evening to early morning since im not running the AC or heat now. And the temps in the incubator seem to move with the house temps. I woke up this morning and it was 96 in the incubator. But if i try to adjust up the incubator temps up, then in the afternoon it will scorch them. Plus i would rather have her raise them after they hatch than for me to have to clean out their nasty little box for a week or more, plus it would integrate them into the flock alittle better.
Any advice? And if i did this, when should i swap the eggs? Shes a game hen and isnt very nice (she freaks out if i get within 10 feet of her when shes just running around. So i dont want to chase her off the nest or have a dozen pecker holes in my hands. hehe

thanks

Digitalsniper

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

If your sure that shes broody then I would. Go out in the middle of the night to make sure she is still on the nest. Then you can swap the eggs while shes sleeping...






A side note/story about Trenton Florida. First off I live in Trenton Ga.

Around 2000-2001 I bought a $500 1978 Firebird. The next week I loaded a few friends an went to Baton Rouge. From there to New Orleans. Then back up the coastline threw Panama city beach(it was spring break) headed back to I-75 to turn north an home. We had pulled up to an intersection in Live Oaks Fl. Turned right(south), realized we made a wrong turn an turned around just as we passed a sign that said we were headed to Trenton. We didn't get 200 yards the other way an the car jumped time an cracked a part in the distributor. We rolled in to a Laundromat. Actually 2 laundromats, side by side in the same building? We slept in the car there because it was past 10PM. The next morning we rebuilt the distributor on the table of the Laundromat. Thats when we found out the engine had jumped time. It started but anything more that 1/4th throttle an it would shoot a flame out of the breather that on that car stuck out of the hood. We drove it home that way. All the way from Live Oaks Fl To Trenton Ga(By Chattanooga) shooting flames out the hood, up the windshield an over the back of the car.

 

[joebryant]

I'd do it. She'll do a better job raising them than what I could.

 

[mulia24]

yes you can, and game hen is tough fighter and mom, she will surely attack anyone who get closer, just like village chicken in my country, better not to mess with them, and i'm too confused when i know people in US even candle egg being sit by their hen, oh then i know the chicken temperament now, many broody hen in US quite calm and not attack their boss when they candle egg, but i don't want to try it here, broody hen here nasty cruel.

but i know, more crueler she is, more flock will respect her and the babies are safer.

 

[digitalsniper]

Thats funny Rebelcowboy.

I had a 78 nova i was playing around with and kept turning the ignition off and on backfiring it until i blew the muffler off. I sounded like a dirt track race car hauling butt home. Just as i pulled into our dirt road, a pepsi truck was flashing its lights at me, and i was thinking, yea yea i know its loud, but its BAD!!! so i pulled in the dirt road and had a hard time breathing, and was thinking, man the carbon monoxide is really BAD at low speeds, so i stuck my head out the window and drove the 500 yards to the house parked it, and my neighbor ran out waving his hands and grump at me. AGain i was thinking ok ill fix the muffler. I looked over the back of the car and there was 5' flames coming out of the trunk. HAAHA the muffler had caught the car on fire and i was driving around. THats why the pepsi truck was flashing its lights, and i couldnt breath for the smoke. (i was in like 10th grade at the time, and stupid). Anyway, it burnt to the ground in the front yard. sigh. So much for my race car. lol.

Thanks everyone for the ideas about the eggs. I just hoped she wouldnt think, wow, 4 or 5 days and i hatched my clutch. I better just keep sitting on them.

Ill let ya know how it turns out.

Digitalsniper

 

[wegotchickens]

I've put eggs under a broody, pulled them when the incubator was free, then selected the chicks I was willing to let her raise and put them under her. She's a marvelous temp bator, and a very good momma hen. She's currently tending 5 mutts. And in a week I'll pull the mutts (new home) and put my teenage d'Uccles under her. She's used to me adding and subtracting from her babes, and always welcomes new additions. She isn't as friendly when I come to subtract some, though.

If your game hen isn't in a secure location, how will you protect her and the babies? Even the other hens will be predators to newly hatched chicks. So if you don't have her in a pen or area you can pen off, I'd move her into such and see if she stays broody. THEN put the eggs under her.

I dont think they have a clock for brooding. I think as soon as they hear those little voices a switch is thrown in their little brains. But if she's a first-time mom, it may take her a while to get the hang of things.

I dearly love my broody now, but her first hatch she killed 2 of 3 chicks (kept shoving them under her as if they were eggs), and the only reason Little Orphan Annie survived is because I put her in the brooder box.
I was only going to use the hen as a bator after that, but had a chick hatch early and momma proved she'd progressed from bator to momma. And now she's the ideal momma/bator and quite dependable. She's a cochin/silkie cross, so a different temperament than your game hen.

 

[digitalsniper]

here is a site with some articles from the newspapers of the day. And several other links within it. It might help you with your battle of little big horn if your still looking for info on it if you havent seen this one yet.


http://www.danielnpaul.com/BattleOfTheLittleBigHorn.html

you can prob. also dig out some videos on discovery.com or history.com i know they have had several documentary's on the battle.

 

[digitalsniper]

i can put the other hens and roo out to pasture. They dont like beting in the coop anyway. I just got tired of looking for eggs so i recooped them. They will welcome the freedom and it will give the broody time to her self.

thanks for that idea.

 

[mulia24]

thank you digitalsniper, i'll bookmarked it for further reading, one of BYC member kindly soon offer to send me a book about it or american history, really helping me to find out better and this link will help me also .

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

OOOO been there. I live on a Mnt an theres nothing like cuttin the switch off going down the mnt, patting the gas a few time an turning it back on... Country Overdrive

My truck I have now has been open manifolds for the hole of the 8 years I have had it. Never even got a warning an I've had it in Ohio , Florida an every state in between.