Need HELP will a hen give up sitting automatically after 21 days?

[silkies mama]

I have a hen (14 months old) sitting for the first time. So I was excited, I ordered SQ Silkie eggs for her to incubate. I took out her week old eggs and put them in my not so stable incubator and gave her my new SQ Silkie eggs. Shes a good protective mom and is having no problems with the new eggs and of course didn`t even realize I switched them.

Now is her timing going to be way off? Her original brood would hatch in 21 or so days. The NEW eggs shes NOW on will hatch about 7 days later. So in other words she will need to keep sitting for an extra week. Do hens have an internal clock that says ok get off now, time is up you did your 21-22 days?

I`ve only hatched one clutch so far with another hen, she layed them and hatched them. So I have NO experience with any of this.

Has anyone had any experience with hens sitting longer? Do they give up?

Has anyone else done this, added eggs later? Did I make a mistake doing this?

Please give me your feedback on this if you have any first hand knowledge.

I`m a retired granny and new to all of this chicken stuff. But boy do I love my birds.

Thanks! Deb

 

[JanO]

You should be fine. Hens will usually sit until they have chicks to care for, regardless of how long it takes. I've actually seen hens die trying to hatch "something" even if there is nothing to hatch under them.. That's why most people will put day old chicks under their broody to break them out of their trance. If they have chicks their instinct to mother them takes over. So an extra week shouldn't be a problem for your girl.

I have a hen right now who has been sitting for over a month. She actually hatched one chick, but it died. She refuses to give up though and has been sitting relentlessly on nothing, and it's been a week since I removed the dead chick. Last night I moved her to a better location that is more chick safe and gave her another egg. She's so determined I hope this one doesn't have any problems.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

They sometimes give up but an extra week should work. I think they can feel the chicks moving and hear chirping so she'll probably hang in there. The extra week will make her a little weaker and need extra nutrition when she's done.
It won't hurt to put some vitamins and electrolytes in her water and make some higher protein grower feed available to her for her daily stretches, and defecates.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

She'll be fine. Chickens can't count, so they tend to sit until something hatches. In fact, when I have a broody, I'll have her sit on golf balls for several days to prove to me that she plans to go the long haul before I'll put actual eggs under her. I do give her Flockraiser instead of layer pellets during that time so that she'll get some extra protein.

 

[sumi]

Most hens will continue sitting as long as they have eggs under them, some would sit like that for weeks if you don't break them or they manage to hatch something. I remember one of my MIL's hens sitting for nearly 3 months once. It's not ideal to let a hen sit for longer than 3 weeks, as the lack of activity and food (they eat very little when sitting) takes quite a toll on them, but one extra week is not too long.

I've done this myself once, when a broody I had sitting accidentally broke an egg in the nest and another hen, I discovered, slept on the side of her nest and defecated in my poor broody's nest, so the resulting mess made me decide to toss the eggs and resupply her with a batch I happened to have cooking in the incubator. In total, if I remember correctly, she sat nearly 4 weeks. She hatched her eggs and we moved her to the "chick pen" where she raised her babies.

 

[piglett]

like others have already said chickens can't count
just keep an eye on her
i had 1 broody that kept leaving her eggs 1/2 the time & sitting on an empty nest instead
lucky for me her sister stepped on up & too over the eggs
the goofy hen was still broody when the eggs started to hatch out so i put both on them in my broody box
it was all good for a couple days then the goofy one started attacking the chicks
i'm talking drawing blood!!!


let's just say that she will never harm a chick again......enough said



happy hatchin
piglett

 

[gimmie birdies]

I combined hen nesting with incubator, I had hens on the nest, then crows came around, so I brought them in and put a door on my nest box, then put my chicks out again. 5 hatched out by this morning and 2 more under a momma. the eggs were all green ones from a farm down the road.They were from the farmers fridge. currently 3 yellow/golden ones, one black and one with a stripe.