New to hen hatching eggs

[Beckid974]

I bought some Seramas on Sunday. Two of the hens are broody and came with a clutch of 15 eggs. I put the 5 most developed in the incubator in case the move broke the broody, but they are still sitting on the 10 remaining eggs. I just candled them and all 15 eggs are showing development. The ones the hens have are showing varying degrees of development and I'm afraid some may hatch way sooner than others. So my question is, will they sit until all the eggs have hatched or will I have to stick some in the incubator to finish? Also, I should be able to sneak the ones from the incubator under them once they hatch, shouldn't I? TIA!!!!!

 

[TwoChicksChix]

So a hen will usually sit on her eggs for a day or two after the first one hatches, but then they will get off and leave whatever hasn't hatched yet. I would put the eggs into three different categories, the farthest along developed eggs, the middle ground, and the newest eggs. Put the farthest under one hen and the middle under the other and whatever is left over can be put in the incubator.

You can stick the eggs back under one of the hens to have her hatch them out, she will listen for their cheeps.

 

[DobieLover]

I bought some Seramas on Sunday. Two of the hens are broody and came with a clutch of 15 eggs. I put the 5 most developed in the incubator in case the move broke the broody, but they are still sitting on the 10 remaining eggs. I just candled them and all 15 eggs are showing development. The ones the hens have are showing varying degrees of development and I'm afraid some may hatch way sooner than others. So my question is, will they sit until all the eggs have hatched or will I have to stick some in the incubator to finish? Also, I should be able to sneak the ones from the incubator under them once they hatch, shouldn't I? TIA!!!!!

Why wouldn't you let them sit on all the eggs?
My broody hen sat another day on her nest to try to hatch the last egg but it was a dud and I took it from her. She then started taking the chicks out.

 

[TwoChicksChix]

Because if some of the eggs are only on week 1 and others are on week 3 the hen will not sit for another two weeks to hatch out the rest of the chicks.

 

[Beckid974]

Thank you for the suggestion! The only problem is they are sitting together in one nest and keep mixing the eggs up. I've numbered them and made note of how developed each egg is so I can keep track.

So a hen will usually sit on her eggs for a day or two after the first one hatches, but then they will get off and leave whatever hasn't hatched yet. I would put the eggs into three different categories, the farthest along developed eggs, the middle ground, and the newest eggs. Put the farthest under one hen and the middle under the other and whatever is left over can be put in the incubator.

You can stick the eggs back under one of the hens to have her hatch them out, she will listen for their cheeps.

 

[DobieLover]

Because if some of the eggs are only on week 1 and others are on week 3 the hen will not sit for another two weeks to hatch out the rest of the chicks.

So at that point, put them in an incubator if they haven't quit.
Or, split up the broody hens and batch the according to the stage of development.

 

[Beckid974]

I was afraid that moving them from where I bought them to my house and a new environment would make them stop sitting.

Why wouldn't you let them sit on all the eggs?
My broody hen sat another day on her nest to try to hatch the last egg but it was a dud and I took it from her. She then started taking the chicks out.

 

[DobieLover]

I was afraid that moving them from where I bought them to my house and a new environment would make them stop sitting.

Okay. But they are still broody.
If they were mine, I would physically separate them into two nests where they cannot get to each other and divide the eggs based on development. If one breaks broody, you always have your incubator to fall back on.

 

[Beckid974]

I just wanted to update that I put the incubator eggs back under the hens. They have started hatching! 5 cute little babies so far, wth 2 more very close to full hatch and pips on several more.

 

[kattfink]

OMG they are gorgeous!!! What kind of chickens are they?