Moving unhatched eggs from under a broody hen to an incubator

[sumi]

She couldn't cover the eggs properly. That's why I put 15 in the incubator. You shouldn't give a hen more eggs than she can cover comfortably (tell that to my hen), or she won't be able to keep them warm enough. I'm very open-minded about the incubator eggies and hers. I'm hoping between us we'll get something out of it that she can raise. She caught me out actually. I realised too late that she went broody on a nest somewhere and then only found her nest a few days later! And of course there's no way I could bring myself to cull the eggs... If I had the incubator free I would've divided the eggs up sooner. Well, we'll see what comes of this

 

[20736]

My experience is that broody hens can't read a calender. If eggs hatch and she has whole eggs under her, she will multi task for up to a week, so a few "late" eggs will have a chance to hatch. My gson's broody banty just raised 2 chicks and sat on 2 eggs until i took the eggs away after 10 days.
Let me see if I have a pic.


can u see the 2 eggs?

 

[sumi]

Sweet pic! My MIL had a broody bantam hen that would not get off her nest. She sort-of raised her chick in the coop and we made sure she had food and water, but no matter what we did, she would not get up. I think she ended up sitting for 3 months! I can't remember what happened in the end.