newly laid egg, now what? please help

[welshterrier]

What do I do about the eggs that are being laid please anyone? New young hen just laid her second egg. She did the same as yesterday. Laid the egg. She and the roosters told everyone. Then she just got up and left it. Yesterday's egg went cold.
Do I trust nature and if the egg is fertile she will know and sit on it or do I try to see if there is a chick inside right away and then try to keep it warm under some sort of lightbulb?
We live in the tropics in Malaysia, kinda like Louisiana in the summer. No one here has ever used an incubator for this type of kampung chicken. The Indonesian just grinned at me.
My maid from Philippines tried to tell me yesterday that when the time comes to sit on the eggs the hen will just sit and presto bingo all the eggs even the cold ones will turn into chicks. She got quite nasty when I told her that cold eggs won't produce chickens. She can't quite remember her live chicken ratio to dead eggs in Philippines where she said they had many chickens. I did post this to a moderator who told me to post it again on the forum because she was too busy to answer. Is there anyone who can tell me if these eggs are just the trial run and somehow new mummy hen will know when a chick is inside and sit?
Thanks, Welsh

 

[thebirdguy]

If these are the very first eggs laid by this hen, the odds are she isn't broody and will not set.. Time for breakfast!! Some breeds are not very good mothers and don't get broody while others get broody if you even think the word..

I would just enjoy the fresh eggs and watch for signs of broodiness.. If the hen starts to act broody then go ahead and try setting a batch of eggs and see what happens!!

 

[Illia]

The only chance your egg would hatch is if it sat under 98-100 degree heat and about 50% humidity for 21 days.

Otherwise, it is perfectly fine. . . Eat it! The pullet is very unlikely to sit on the eggs and hatch them herself. . . Most chickens out there are hatchery-bred, so broodiness (the need to hatch chicks) has been bred out of them. If one does go broody, she won't do it until after she's used to laying eggs, and you'd know if she is. . . She'll sit on the eggs night and day, and never leave them except once a day to take a quick drink and bite to eat.

Fertile eggs are perfectly fine to eat. . . There's nothing actually there until the egg is exposed to hot temperatures for over 24 hours.

 

[Mahonri]

They usually lay 8 to 10 eggs anyway before they even think about getting broody.

I would take the eggs that she laid and replace them with golf balls... when she stays on them overnight, you might have a broody.

 

[MissJenny]

First of all

you have come to the right place.

Your hen is doing exactly what hens do most of the time -- she is laying eggs and leaving them be. When/IF she ever wants to hatch her eggs (and this may never happen) she will collect, gather, hoard two to ten eggs and sit on them... and sit on them... and sit on them -- whether they are fertile or not. It's called "going broody". Some breeds of chicken are more prone to going broody than others.

As far as I know there is no way to make a hen feel more inclined to sit and there is little way to break a broody from sitting. Some folks don't like for them to go broody because either they don't want more chicks or they don't want to slow /stop egg production. A broody hen does not continue to lay eggs when she is sitting. The other reason to not want a hen to sit is if they don't have a rooster, which would be a great big waste of time.

So your hen may go broody sooner or later, but for now you can either incubate her eggs, assuming they are fertile... or you may eat them. But you can't make her sit on them. Bon appetite.

Jenny

P.S. And yes, the "cold" eggs too can turn into chicks -- the mother saves up several eggs, so clearly the earlier laid eggs will have gone "cold".

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

I don't know about your breed but most chickens won't hatch their own eggs. So as the above poster mentioned, take out all the eggs every day (and eat them) until the chicken becomes "broody" then you can try slipping some of her fresh eggs under her, or let her collect them, then leave everything alone.

Also, don't know if this was mentioned, you MUST have a rooster to have fertile eggs so she CAN hatch them.

However if she is NOT broody and the eggs just sit there they will eventually go bad.

I recommend looking around and reading a bunch of topics here on the BYC, also read all the "sticky" threads at the top of each section.

Hope this helps!

 

[ChickenDreamer]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=425401