Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[Savcluckers]

No, but I've tried candling other eggs and I'm still not really sure exactly what I am looking for!!

Will it hurt them to candle them now or should I just wait and see?

 

[kilby]

don't need to feed them every day. My guess is she feasted on those eggs because she was use to eating daily and it was a bad habit to have. This happened to me lately, I have set up eggs last year and this. Only let one hen sit on three last year and all three are still here. One of those chicks set on a nest this year and she had three for three. I gave her what others contributed but I was not sure of the dates. Brought her inside. She shunned four of the seven after the first chick appeared. the last two took three more days. the extra eggs I gave to my Chantecler who is very broody with her one egg. two hatched and she killed both. I gave her food almost daily because she would eat it right away but I stopped doing this when it was mentioned here that a hen only needs to get out every three to four days. My Americauna got out once in 23 days to eat. Lost weight but happy diligent Mom she is and still is raising them. Anyway, as with anything if it is use to eating and who knows maybe the eggs got cold. I wont let the Chantecler sit again unless I raise them. Wont be necessary because I have other broody hens now for the future.

Hey guys,
I am on day 22 with 2 first time broodies. We have one live hatch so far, and 2 that died, but were out of the shell completely. Now the momma with the live hatch has moved her baby and one egg outta of the nesting box and into a corner. She left 3 eggs in there along with a dead chick. I am assuming that those eggs are bad since she left them. Any advice? Also, how long should I let the mommas sit on these eggs? We will definitely have a staggered hatch cuz one momma kept egg-napping everyone's eggs the first 3 days!!! Thanks in advance for your help!!!

I have searched this thread, but even the results are quite a bit of material to go through, and i'm a bit stressed right now. If anyone can answer some questions, I would greatly appreciate it. One of my first year BOs went broody, and i gave her a dozen fertile eggs to sit. On about day 6 an egg broke over all the others. I removed the shells and wiped the goo off the eggs with a dry cloth. I quick changed the straw in the nest too, as it's on ground and ants can be a problem. She's in a chicken tractor, and I nudged her off the nest daily to eat and drink. She was always back on the next within about 10 minutes. I did not candle the eggs. Yesterday was day 21 and we heard several of the chicks peeping through the shell. There were some tiny bugs all over one egg, so i quick changed the straw again, thinking they were lice and not good for the coming chicks, replacing the eggs pretty much like they were. Went out to check her today, and 8 of the 11 eggs had hatched, but the chicks were dead. One was missing most of it's head, so i KNOW she killed that one. One still had some yolk showing, so I am assuming it died on it's own. One was still curled up in the fetal position almost like some one had removed the shell before it was ready. All their shells were still there. I examined the bodies, no marks on them, no ants, just squished, damp, limp little bodies. And i was looking so forward to chicks! So my questions are:

• It was 100 degrees yesterday, do you think the heat was too much?
• do you think Mom killed/smothered the chicks?
• should i keep her in my breeding program?
• if i let her brood again, should i remove the chicks when they start peeping so she doesn't kill/smother them?

Thanx,

Sorry got these two posts combined in my thoughts. the bugs are from the egg you did not wash and rinse and anything growing bacteria in the nest.

 

[mamalaoshi]

Savcluckers-
It won't hurt to candle them to help you know what went wrong. Sometimes your eggs might not have all been fertile- if you go in a dark room (bathroom or closet), put the egg on top of a toilet paper tube and a bright flashlight in the bottom. An undeveloped egg will glow, a fully developed egg will be completely black. If you have a dark colored egg, it can be a little harder to tell. You can use an eating egg from your fridge to compare. We had two hens set for three weeks on duds but we wouldn't have known unless we candled them at the end. Sometimes they will quit partway through- then you will see a dark blob that only fills part of the shell. Since you said you might have eggs of varying stages of development, you can try sticking them in an incubator. Draw a line around the blob you see through the lighted shell. When you check after a week, you should see the blob getting bigger compared to the line you drew. If there is no change, you can toss the egg. If it looks like the egg is filled, just stick it back under the hen or in an incubator for a few more days. Either it will hatch or it won't. I had to rescue 18 eggs last week (my new goose family didn't like her nest's proximity to their new babies). They looked full when I candled them except for one so I stuck them in an incubator. They just started tapping today. I doubt all 18 will hatch because of being disturbed so much and it took me a while to get the incubator calibrated, but really I figure what's the harm. I have the original mom sitting on some fake eggs in the meantime and plan to slip the babies under her after the hatch.

If you are really curious, if they don't hatch, you can crack them open and see if there were deformities or if they were too dry or too wet. My husband will do that sometimes. I just dig a hole and bury them.

 

[hereorthere]

Oh No!

My broody got out of her nest box. She was sitting fine at 9:30am when we did the chicken chores. We ususally let her out, but it was a bit brisk & we'd be back out there later in the day. Anyway, at 3pm, she was sitting one nest over on a single infertile egg. Her eggs were cold. It could have been any time from 15 min to 5 hrs.
Has anyone else had this happen? About how long can the eggs stay alive on an 80'F day?

This is the 1st time we're leaving her in the coop while broody. We put up a temp plastic mesh over the opening, but it's more for show to keep the other hens out. (They were picking on her & depositing more eggs. The mesh prevents that, but it's not really made to actually lock up our broody.)

No worries. This was me about 4 wks ago - look back at post #24976 as my broody was off & in the wrong box for about 10hrs. Had 8 out of 10 hatch a few days later.

 

[HeatherLott]

I am new to hatching eggs whether they be broody or incubator. I went with the broody hen method because one of my hens went broody and I didn't know what else to do besides putting fertilized eggs underneath her. My question is - how long do I let her sit her eggs before it's been determined that they won't hatch? She's on day 23 and nothing yet.

 

[coelurajry]

Funny you should be talking about a broody hen leaving her eggs and moving to another nestbox; I have a broody Buff Orpington hen, same one that was broody for over a month this last winter (and it was a long COLD winter). I finally gave her three eggs to set. I went out the other day, about 12 days into the brood, and she had left the eggs. She was out having a good time running around, flapping her wings, eating, etc. I thought "it's warm enough, maybe she's taking a break". Two hours later, she is back in the nest box but the wrong box. Sitting on newly laid eggs of other hens. :-( So I took all the eggs from her original brood, and candled them. Three were clear (new), four were dark. I decided to eggtopsy them and two of them were still alive. :-((( I had opened up the air chamber end of the eggs, so I'm not sure if they are too compromised to survive/grow? I put some clear packing tape over the open shell, and placed them in my incubator with eggs that I started a week ago. Should I try to incubate them or throw them away? As for the broody hen, I marked the eggs this time, and she is sitting on some LF Cochin eggs for me right now.

 

[Faraday40]

Last night was another candling event: Day 14. DD really enjoys getting to "peek" at the developing embryos & recording their growth. (The egg pictured is her favorite egg - a silver laced sebright - which is developing well.) DD is also very good at predicting which ones will hatch & noticing any abnormalities like air cell detachment or porous shells. Last year, we did the hatching projects together. This year, she's doing most it herself with almost no help. (Well, I had to acquire the fertile eggs & sell or rehome the hatch results.) This year she is testing broody vs. incubator. The same broody hen who was trial #1, volunteered for trial #2. Once again, the results are equal. One incubator egg was clear & the broody smashed one of her eggs on day 5 before 1st candling. It's funny, but both eggs came from the same hen. I'm wondering if there was something wrong with both eggs. Poor broody got egg all over herself. I removed some of the soiled bedding. Then on day 10, she got mixed up & returned to the wrong nest. Eggs are still developing, so neither event caused problems.

DS is also growing more responsible via his big sister's projects. He has taken one of the chicks as HIS. The little chick even follows him when it's not being held. I believe we'll need to name it soon or he'll keep calling it "Chickie." Thankfully, it's showing no roo-like signs at 4-5 weeks, so he may get to keep it.

 

[fisherlady]

Ok...cuteness alert...

Yesterday was beautiful in our neck of Penns woods and I opened up the pop door to let the 2 latest broody hens out with their 4 day olds. They have been in their 6x6 broody stall since hatch since the weather has been so horrible and these are both 1st time broodies so we wanted to watch them the first few days...
The Littles weren't too sure about this outside stuff at first...
It looks scary out there!


But eventually the mama hen calls got them out...

They got to explore a bit and checked out the rocks...

 

[fisherlady]

And more

They met their new hero...One of our roosters



And learned that mom calling means goodies!


I'd say they had a good day out!

And it was nice to see the rest of the birds being able to lounge in the sun for a change!

 

[Kristen800]

I just thought I'd share my excitement with everyone, I have two royal Palm turkeys that are sitting on four chicken eggs together and today is day 18!!! This is their first spring/summer laying their own eggs and they both built nests out in the woody area of my yard but sadly they were not fertile so I took them. They both sat on their empty nests for a week so I moved them and gave them five chickens eggs to share - I felt guilty. At day 7 they rolled one out to the far corner of their cage and crushed and then ate the egg so I assume it was no good. They both sit right next to eachother and take turns. I think they have fit their schedule to when I let the chickens and ducks out and when everyone gets put away because one stands up and the other rolls them to her spot in the morning and in the evening, like clockwork. I candled at day 14 and all seemed to be developing normally. I only candled once because they are quite fussy and protective, and a turkey beak packs quite a punch. I'm a little worried about them stepping on them or something since it is their first time and there's twice as many feet that can smash them. But I'm so excited! They've been working so hard and I hope atleast one hatches for their sake. It's so EXCITING!!! I'll post some pictures if they have any luck. Here's my girls sitting tight