new here and a few questions

[laurenish]

Hello, I'm Lauren.

I own 4 batnam chickens, 3 hens and one rooster.
All 3 hens lay eggs.
For about 2 weeks (or a few days more), the littlest hen has been sitting on her eggs. Well, some of hers...
The 2 larger hens (rhode island red & barred rock) lay large eggs of shades brown-redish-pinkish. Hers however, are a light shade of yellow.
She has been sitting on all 3 hens eggs (including hers) for those 2 weeks.
(I want to say it has been 21 days she has been on them but I am not sure. I KNOW she has been on the eggs for AT LEAST 2 weeks).
I took about 4 eggs from her that stuck out from her to candel them. No sign of chick development.
So today, I took about 8 more and candeled them as well. Still, NOTHING!
Is she sitting on non-fertilized eggs? She won't leave the nesting place. I'm super confused as this is the first time I've ever both owned a rooster and experienced motherly behavior from one of my hens.
I'm not an expert or anything, I'm only 17 loving on my many pets. It would be exciting to experience hatching but I want my little hen to be healthy and do the job right first.


Please help me!
Thanks.

 

[faykokoWV]

you should be something in the eggs at two weeks if they are fertile. sounds like she is "broody". do a search on this site regarding broody hens and you should find lots of answers.

How old is your rooster and have you seen him mating with the hens at all?

 

[laurenish]

Thank you for your reply.


I did look up the term and it sounds pretty exact to how she is acting.
I am not exactly sure of his age, but both him and the "broody" hen are smaller than my other hens.
I know he is "of age" for mating however. Though I have never seen him mate with any of the hens. Attemps, yes

Will I, from now on, have to candel each egg? I'm so lost now. I left her on her eggs in hopes of chicks soon! I was so excited until today.

 

[Ridgerunner]

First, welcome to the forum. Glad you are here.

This thread gives some different opinions about how to handle a broody hen and goes into some details. I think it would be a good read for you.

Isolate a Broody? Thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=213218

I may be wrong. If I am, let me know and someone will help you.

It sounds like your problem is that the other hens kept laying in her nest while she was trying to hatch the eggs. Two bad things happen when they do that. One is that a chicken egg takes 21 days to hatch. If other eggs are added after she has started other eggs, the later eggs will not hatch. She will take the first chicks off the nest before the later ones hatch.

The other bad thing is that an egg has to be kept warm to hatch. If she gets so many eggs she cannot keep them all warm, some will cool off and the chick in them will die. The hen is constantly turning and moving the eggs. One egg will get moved out from under her, cool off, and the chick will die, then that egg gets moved back under the hen and another egg gets moved out, cools and dies.

You have a few options. You can toss all these eggs, save the eggs the others lay for a couple of days, and start those. Mark them with a sharpie and remove any new eggs that show up, checking at least once a day. Those new eggs will be good to eat.

You can candle all the eggs. Any that look like they are developing can be marked with a sharpie and put back under her. Toss the rest. They are not good to eat. Every day, remove any new eggs that shows up. As the chicks hatch and dry off, take them away from her, put them in a brooder and raise them yourself. She might take them back and raise them herself once the hatch is finished. If you get in that situation, it's probably best if you start a new thread to discuss how to do that.

Maybe the best thing to do is candle all of them and then decide after you see how many look like they are developing.

Good luck. It is rough going through this your first hatch, but the next one will go a lot better.

 

[laurenish]

Again, Thank you very much!!!


About letting the other hens lay on the eggs, they don't! The other 2 just lay and jump out of the coop.
We had no idea at first that the broody hen hadn't been seen for a few days (as she was in the coop). (this is why i am not sure of the exact days she has been on them)
Out of all 19 of the eggs she's been on, only about 4 were actually hers. When I saw that some were squeezing out from under her, this is when I googled and learned about candleing the eggs. And I saw no sign of life. So I grabbed a few more and again, NOTHING!
I looked up some pictures of how developing fertilized eggs look and saw a picture of the air sack ring? And about 2 of her eggs do have that. But again, sitting on them for at least 2 weeks, I would have thought I would see more development.


I'm a novice at all this, so forgive me if I sound silly.

 

[lauralou]

You don't sound silly at all. This is your first time, and the best way to find out is to ask.

What Ridgerunner meant about the other hens laying is that the other hens are laying eggs in the nest. That's why you have 19 of them in there. Which is a lot! Those eggs were laid over a period of at least a week. So they are all at differing stages in the incubation process. Assuming that any of them are fertile, of course.

If your rooster is young, he may not be able to fertilize eggs yet. I have a rooster who is almost 5 months old, and I'm not getting any fertile eggs from the hens that are in the pen with him. He's just a late bloomer.

Also, it's said that fertility is generally less in winter. I don't know where you are. It's miserably cold and full blown winter here...

Here's how I check for fertility of the eggs. I take a freshly laid egg, one that I'm getting ready to eat for breakfast, crack it in a bowl and look for a bullseye on the yolk. If the egg is not fertile, there will be a white dot. If it is fertile, there is a clear bullseye pattern. Sometimes you have to flip the yolk with a fork because the dot or bullseye is underneath.

Now, about the 19 eggs that you have under the hen right now. Candle them all. Toss the ones that are showing clear. They're no good. So just get rid of them. If you have some that do seem to be developing, you can put them back under her and let her give them a try. Since there are so many of them, do this in a couple of sessions so they won't cool off too much during the candling process. Mark the ones that you think are developing with a permanent marker, so you can identify them.

Nineteen eggs is a lot for a hen to incubate. I usually give my broody hens between 6 and 9 eggs. I'm sure they could handle a few more, but I don't need a whole lot of chicks anyway. I save them up, in a basket on the kitchen counter, and give them all to her at the same time. That way they all develop together and hatch at the same time. Or within a day of each other.

If you have any other questions, please ask. Don't feel dumb. Everybody had a first time at this, and we all remember what it was like.

 

[laurenish]

Quote:
Thank you so much for being kind

Well I live in South Texas and the weather has been cold and rainy lately.
But then of course we have our random beautiful weather days.
So it's all out of whack right now where I live lol.

My rooster is probably about 6-7 months now.
He is crowing and doing odd dances for his girlies.
I have never seen mating with my own eyes, however.
But upon cracking one egg, I saw the bullseye pattern you mentioned!!
So something must be going on?!

It is odd though. I did candle all 19 eggs and cracked about 4 (noncandeld but saw 2 with bullseyes) and I could see no sign of development (veins, black dot, etc.)!
And she has been sitting on who knows how many for min. 2 wks. This is why I am so confused?! Shouldn't I have been able to see something?
*note: i am using a normal 60 watt bulb for candleing but can see through the eggs*


I probably will have MANY more questions along the way so I appreciate your offer

I'm so confused but I hope someday I'll be a young grandmother

Thank you again!

 

[Chosen Chickens]

Sounds like they are fertile but there is just too many eggs to keep them properly warm. You mentioned that the hen laying on them is your littlest bantam so I would probably only let her sit on 4 or 5 eggs and then see after a week or so if they are developing. Also make sure you have a very powerful light to candle with

 

[laurenish]

Yes, she is the smallest of then hens. And the rooster is about her size or slightly taller. I can tell both will not grow very large.

Yes I am only using a 60 watt bulb. I have read that LED lights are the best lights to use.
Can I find this bulb at a local home depot? I would hate to observe false readings of the eggs...

I will probably purcahse this sort of bulb tomorrow if it is not hard to find.
And yes, next saturday, I plan to candle the eggs she is on at the moment

Q: If the other hens lay tomorrow and my broody sits on them, should I mark them, replace them back under her and candle them next saturday as well?

 

[Chosen Chickens]

Home depot has a 100 lumen led flashlight for like 20-30$. Very bright and works great on my brown colored eggs!

I would let any of the hens lay until you have like 4 to 5 eggs then mark them and take the rest away and dont let any more....

Heres the other thing with broody hens.... if they are laying on eggs then usually they wont be laying any themselves... so most will be from the other hens dumping their eggs in her nest. Let us know what happens!