Well, if the rooster immediately begins mating with the hens (not impossible, but unlikely) the first fertilized eggs from your hens wouldn't be for 3-4 days after mating. Generally, my roo has his favorite of the day and only mates with that particular hen. Some roosters will cover all of the hens every day, but most don't. Once a mating has occurred, the hen will be fertile for about 2 weeks after the first 3 days of waiting. So, if the rooster covered all of the hens on Sunday, Wednesday's eggs should be fertile and for about 10-14 days afterwards. Usually though, the rooster doesn't cover all of the hens every day. You may also have some hens that are resistant to his mating with them and they may not allow him to mate at all. I have one hen that is like that, she'll only get covered every 3-4 weeks because she manages to get away from him most of the time. She's the one that prefers to be broody, so I don't have a problem with her not laying fertile eggs.Hello, everyone! My husband and I are very new to raising chickens; we bought eight hens last spring (so they're about 7-8 months old now) for eggs and we are really enjoying having them.
We noticed about ten days ago that "Buffy" (our Orpington) was refusing to leave her nest box and so we figured she was broody. Yesterday some friends of ours let us "borrow" their rooster and our plan is to leave the rooster with all the hens for a few days and then have Buffy sit on about 8 eggs or so and see if we can get them to hatch.
Which brings me to my question. It's my understanding that it takes 21 days from fertilization to hatching. Are hens only broody for 21 days or will she continue to sit on the eggs until they hatch? For example, it's already been 10 days since she went broody so if I put eggs under her in the next few days will she just get up and be done with them after another 11-12 days has gone by or will she sit on them until they hatch? Sorry if that sounds like a dumb question; we just aren't sure.
Also, I noticed that many people remove the hen and chicks from the community area once they are hatched. Will it be upsetting to the hen if I only remove the chicks? I have a small area for the chicks to stay with a heat lamp but it won't be big enough for the hen, too. I just don't want my poor mama hen to be very distraught if I take her babies. If she will be, then we'll have to figure something else out.
Thanks for putting up with my newbie questions!
Then, should you have fertile eggs, collect them and then slip them all under the broody at the same time. The fertile eggs should keep for about a week. Store them in an egg carton, pointy end down until you are ready to slip them under her. The hatch rate really starts to drop after a week.
A "really" broody hen will stay broody until she has chicks. It is not particularly good for her to stay broody this long though as she tends to not eat, drink and evacuate as often as she does when she is not broody. I don't separate my broody from the rest of the flock and I allow her to raise the chicks herself. I usually lose one or two this way because a cat or hawk will get them, but I've never lost one to another hen. Also, it is getting pretty late in the year. There is a possibility that your broody will break as the weather gets colder and will abandon the nest.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I would not give her any eggs now, I'd let her break her broody when the weather gets colder or try to break her using the methods described on this site. Then, when she goes broody in the spring, I'd either purchase some eggs from the friend that owns the rooster to set under her or purchase some from a breeder. Let her hatch them out and raise them in the spring when it will be easier on all of you.
Just my thoughts from my experience and from what I've garnered off of this site.
Good luck!
