New eggs under broody hen?

[hillerfamily]

My hen was broody for 23 days, nothing....cracked all the eggs and there was nothing in 7, but the last looked to be about a week premature.I marked and dated all the eggs under her, so by date, I kept up with them. Weather has been odd here so I attributed that to the loss. Last one I cracked was viable, but a week to soon, so in essence, I killed it. I know, horrible but I found out the kids had given the hen an egg I didnt know was in there and when I candled, it was too dark a shell to see through. I have offered the hen a new batch of 5 fertile eggs, and she took them and squawed and settled down on them...will she continue to try and naturally hatch after being broody for so long already?

Is it safe for her health to allow her to brood again for the desired amount of time to hatch the new batch???

 

[Portia]

Sorry, I can't answer your question but I will be interested in hearing other's answers. I had the same issue a few weeks ago and ended up getting a small batch of chicks for her to adopt b/c I was concerned about her setting for 2 months straight...and she was not about to get off that nest until she had some chicks. I fed her everyday, but I still worried about her health; so I feel your concern.

 

[Msbear]

depends on the hen.. she might stay. It seems that hens all prefer the same box and they will sneak up there to lay when momma takes her break. That's happening here right now

The real problems happen when the hen doesn't wait for the invader to get up and sits on another nest... leaving her eggs go cold.

She'll be fine health-wise and will recover quickly from any dissapointment

I don't think they have much of a memory.

 

[hillerfamily]

She does come off to do her doody and eat and drink regular like, but she hops right back in there. I do take her treats and my daughter the resident "chicken whisperer" can go in and she will come off for her and eat....so she is keeping good eating habits and such, but we are new to this and I dont want to screw her up so to speak.....we shall see how it goes...

She does get highly ticked when the other hens go in the house to lay...she raises quite a fuss, but currently is standing her ground, but there is another hen trying to go broody on the same eggs. Hen A who has been the original broody just sits ontop of her till hen B gets the hint and gets on out. its kinda funny...Is that a norm? them sitting on top of each other?

 

[Msbear]

oh yeah. I've seen pics where three hens are all in the same nest on the eggs. It's adorable until the chicks hatch and some of them get jealous

Then you have baby stealing and such... a real soap opera

 

[hillerfamily]

hahahaha......and these are the days of our lives

 

[Portia]

It is for my girls. I mark the eggs lightly with a pencil, usually I just make an X and if i have 2 broodies I'll put an O on the other batch. That way I can move the eggs to the hen if necessary and i know when someone else has come in and laid in her nest...also it prevents any surprises when cracking eggs; especially since most of our eggs are eaten by other families

 

[hillerfamily]

yeah i mark um.....just to keep the gals straight. but we just gave hen B some fake ones and i take one or so aday out till theres nothing left and she gives up and moves on