My first EE egg! What next?

[happyhatcher1981]

hello all!

I am new and my pulled Wes (whom were supposed to be Ameraucana pulletd) one of them laid their very first egg today.i have 8 pullets and 1 roo. What should I do with the eggs now that one of my girls is laying? Should I collect them to protect them until its time she lay on tjem to hatch them? My worry is the others would peck and eat at them if i don't take them as soon as they are laid..any advice on what to do with the newly laid eggs? Do i incubate and hatch them myself? Doet mama do that?

 

[CrazyCochin]

Hi and congratulations on the new layer it would probably be good to collect them if they are big enough to use. Here is a picture of our newest egg. when we have a broody hen, we don’t use the small younger eggs, because they would probably hatch with defects. I say if you can’t use them you could open it up and see if there is a yoke in it or you can throw it out because they’re absolutely no use.

 

[happyhatcher1981]

Thank you! When would be a good time to start collecting them for the purpose of checking on whether they are fertilized or not? Do i leave the eggs In the coop and let nature do it's thing? At what point to I need ro intervene? Thank you!

 

[Kiki]

Eat it.

Do not leave it in the coop.

You really should not even try to incubate the first eggs that are laid by a newly laying chicken.

Wait a month or two before you start thinking about incubating.

Also do you know what broody means?
You can't force a chicken to sit on eggs... It doesn't work that way.

 

[CrazyCochin]

I would wait till they are about 9 months to a year to safely incubate them.
Are you going to let them sit on the eggs or incubate them in an incubator?

 

[happyhatcher1981]

Eat it.

Do not leave it in the coop.

You really should not even try to incubate the first eggs that are laid by a newly laying chicken.

Wait a month or two before you start thinking about incubating.

Also do you know what broody means?
You can't force a chicken to sit on eggs... It doesn't work that way.

Thanks so much! Good advice! I hear broody all the time but not quite sure exactly what this behavior looks like or what ot means.

 

[happyhatcher1981]

I would wait till they are about 9 months to a year to safely incubate them.
Are you going to let them sit on the eggs or incubate them in an incubator?

Thanks so much! I would love it if they would sit on them eventually but like someone was mentioning you can't make them sit on them ...something about broody? Learning more everyday...

 

[Kiki]

Thanks so much! Good advice! I hear broody all the time but not quite sure exactly what this behavior looks like or what ot means.

Read through this...it might help you understand more.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/is-this-what-broody-means.1241519/

 

[aart]

Eat it.
Do not leave it in the coop.
You really should not even try to incubate the first eggs that are laid by a newly laying chicken.
Wait a month or two before you start thinking about incubating.

Ditto Dat!!

These are my go-to signs for determining if a bird is broody:
Is she on nest most the day and all night?
When you pull her out of nest and put her on the ground, does she flatten right back out into a fluffy screeching pancake?
Does she walk around making a low cluckcluckcluckcluckcluck(ticking bomb) sound on her way back to the nest?
If so, then she is probably broody and you'll have to decide how to manage it.

Here's a great thread about broodies:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/broody-hen-thread.496101/

 

[Acre4Me]

How old is your male? Cockerel is a male under 1 year old and a rooster is a male over 1 year old. Is your male successfully mating the pullets?