Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

[JakRat]

Im not a expert. But all my eggs have had air sacs fertile or not. What day are you on? Sorry if I missed it.

Thats what I thought too.

Well I am on day 7 maybe, and also day 4. I checked on the day seven eggs after about 4 days of being under her and didnt see anything. I went inside and got some other eggs and put them under her and those are the day 4 ones. I am going to try to bring them all in tomorrow to check them out because I dont want her sitting on empty eggs. If all are empty, I am going to go to a neighboors farm and get an egg or two from him so atleast she can hatch something.

I am hesitant to crack open and egg that seems empty though... what if there actually is a baby in there!?

 

[JakRat]

Oh and her little serama friend is helping her out by keeping the eggs warm with her. When the silkie moved for me to get the eggs her friend dove on them as if to say "ITS TOO COLD MUCT KEEP WARM"!!! I had to move her off and put the silkie back on... ridiculous birds.

 

[CakePrincess21]

I'm hatching eggs in a incubator. My hens aLWAYS EAT THEIR EGGS OR KILL THE CHICKS WHEN BORN. rIGHT NOW THE TEMP. IS AT 102 AND HUMIDITY 38. iS THAT ALRIGHT?

 

[thailand]

Hi Everyone,

I'm not sure if it's ok for me to just jump in here and ask a question about my first broody?

I think my young Brahma girl Penelope has gone broody? Yaay!! I first noticed 3 days ago that she was spending a lot of time in the nestbox and even sleeping in there. She has been getting off for about an hour a day to dustbath. This morning one of the other girls was very interested in what was going on and as she stood at the entrance to Penelope's nestbox I heard a very low growl/purring noise. The curious hen then chose another nestbox to lay her egg in.

I have a few questions please that I'm hoping you experienced people can help me with. Next week we are going away on holiday for 10 days. Should I leave Penelope sitting in her nestbox in the chicken coop with the other two hens or should I move her? Will she be ok in this situation? I don't want to accidentally cause her break her broodiness. The rooster (another story) is unwell at the moment and so I've already separated him into a separate coop for the time being. Should I keep him there? Lastly, there is a chance her eggs may not be fertile as I'm not sure my sick rooster has been 'hitting the mark' so to speak. However, I do have a 2nd rooster and separate hen who I'm sure would have fertile eggs. At what point should I put these fertile eggs under Penelope? Before we go away for 10 days or when we get back?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, or if they've been answered before elsewhere. I did start reading through this thread months ago, but then got busy and got way behind.

All replies greatly received!

Thanks

 

[stonykill]

I'm hatching eggs in a incubator. My hens aLWAYS EAT THEIR EGGS OR KILL THE CHICKS WHEN BORN. rIGHT NOW THE TEMP. IS AT 102 AND HUMIDITY 38. iS THAT ALRIGHT?

if it is a still air and you are measuring the temp at the top of the eggs, yes. The humidity if fine also if before day 18. If you have a fan in you bator, then the temp is high and should be 99.5

 

[JakRat]

Does a rooster even have to be a certain age to "date" the ladies?

Mine is about 8 months old. I would think he would be in his wild teenage years. I just think its so odd that I have to worry about this! He SHOULD have fertilized the eggs, but after looking at the eggs tonight I dont think there is any hope and I am super bummed out about it. I would just leave them, but I dont want her sitting on eggs that are empty and have her waste her time. I mean at what point would she get up after realizing that there arent going to be any babies?

 

[countrygirl5]

I was goin to use it for if the nights got cold and I didn't want her water to freeze. Or for when the chicks hatch and the nights got real cold. I know mamma is going to be good at keeping them warm, but there are 10 eggs under her, and(Lord willing), if they all hatch, she'll have alot on her "hands". ;-)

Bear is handsome. For 14 years i had a black lab named Bear. lost him a few months ago, simply to old age. Great dogs. The broody area looks good, but one question. Why the heat lamp?

 

[BarnGoddess01]

Quote:
All eggs will have an air sack. By day 7, you should see some veining. Maybe not on day 4. I gather you are questioning fertility? Are any of your other birds laying eggs right now? Could you crack open one that isn't being incubated and check for the white spot. It should be REALLY obvious. This, for example, is a fertile egg .... the donut (white spot on the lower part of the yolk) should be really obvious if your eggs are fertile.

 

[bobbieschicks]

The easiest way to know if an egg was fertilized - on Day 3 you candle the egg in darkness - if it isn't completely clear - it's fertile and there's something developing. If you can see through it and there's no darkness at all - it wasn't fertilized or it stopped being fertile.

The way to know if it's developing - look at the egg closely and even if it's a dark egg you should be able to see veins and movement near the air sac - if you see that - there's development. If you don't see any veins around the air sac - then it's no longer developing. You can also search for how big the chick is supposed to be on what Day in growth - and go by that if you want.

Here's my plan as I look by candling - any cracked or smelly - I toss
Day 3 - should see a dot with veins or at least not all clear
Day 7 - should see a larger dark mass with veins
Day 14 - should see mostly just a large dark mass and veins
Day 18 - should be able to not see inside egg anymore as this has a mostly developed chick - lay it down and leave it alone to hatch.
Day 19/21/22 - chicks should hatch
Day 24 - remove any eggs unhatched

Oh also, I want to make sure that she isnt just sitting there for fun. If there are no babies under her I need to get her and egg that is fertile from a farmer friend of mine, or knock her off the nest, which really breaks my heart to do.

I need a good comparison picture of what a fertilized egg yolk looks like. I looked it up online, but I cant really tell the difference. To me, all the eggs I have cracked open look fertile... made me feel bad too lol.

I did get one egg from under her that she was sitting on that had hair line cracks. When I cracked it open there was nothing in it but a runny yolk. That was under her for a bout 5-6 days.

 

[countrygirl5]

I have been told that once a rooster inseminates a chicken she can have fertile eggs for up to a month. So as long as your roo was doing his job a month ago, then they should be fine. If you're worried, take out the eggs she's on (wear a glove if you don't want to bleed), and replace them with the ones you know are fertile. I've always been told to remove the broody cause sometimes the other hens can get in and lay eggs w/her and then you don't know what were the originals and which are new. Also, for the sake of the chicks when they hatch, the other hens may not like the newcommers. As long as your broody is secure and she has food and water she should be fine to leave her for 10 days. Most broodys only get off the nest once a day, and not even that sometimes. I just moved my broody Sunday(so Monday would be day 1) evening, and I'm pretty sure she's not left the nest yet. I will try to candle this comming Sunday evening to see what's going on. I'm hesitant to do it just cause part of me doesn't want to know bad news, but I've heard stories of eggs exploding and causing harm to mamma and other eggs, so.. . . We'll see how it goes. HTH

Hi Everyone,

I'm not sure if it's ok for me to just jump in here and ask a question about my first broody?

I think my young Brahma girl Penelope has gone broody? Yaay!! I first noticed 3 days ago that she was spending a lot of time in the nestbox and even sleeping in there. She has been getting off for about an hour a day to dustbath. This morning one of the other girls was very interested in what was going on and as she stood at the entrance to Penelope's nestbox I heard a very low growl/purring noise. The curious hen then chose another nestbox to lay her egg in.

I have a few questions please that I'm hoping you experienced people can help me with. Next week we are going away on holiday for 10 days. Should I leave Penelope sitting in her nestbox in the chicken coop with the other two hens or should I move her? Will she be ok in this situation? I don't want to accidentally cause her break her broodiness. The rooster (another story) is unwell at the moment and so I've already separated him into a separate coop for the time being. Should I keep him there? Lastly, there is a chance her eggs may not be fertile as I'm not sure my sick rooster has been 'hitting the mark' so to speak. However, I do have a 2nd rooster and separate hen who I'm sure would have fertile eggs. At what point should I put these fertile eggs under Penelope? Before we go away for 10 days or when we get back?

Sorry if these are dumb questions, or if they've been answered before elsewhere. I did start reading through this thread months ago, but then got busy and got way behind.

All replies greatly received!

Thanks