Old Fashioned Broody Hen Hatch A Long and Informational Thread

Thank you so much for the input, I will place the chick food in as soon as we have some chicks. We are at day 15 today so another 7 to go. I have her in a 6' x 6' pen with her own 'nesting crate' and the food and water are at the other side of the enclosure and she gets up pretty regularly and stretches her legs, produces the most enormous poop, eats, drinks and goes back to her nest. She has kept it clean so far. Here's hoping...
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Hello! I'm new to this group, but am really enjoying all of the great info on this site! I need some advice.....I have a broody hen, an Australorp, and she's been sitting on 4 fertilized eggs for 29 days now. We candled them, and there are definitely chicks inside the eggs. From everything that I've read, the chicks should've hatched by now. What should I do? She's in her own cage, I moved her 2 weeks ago. Could that be the problem? HELP!!!!
 
Hello! I'm new to this group, but am really enjoying all of the great info on this site! I need some advice.....I have a broody hen, an Australorp, and she's been sitting on 4 fertilized eggs for 29 days now. We candled them, and there are definitely chicks inside the eggs. From everything that I've read, the chicks should've hatched by now. What should I do? She's in her own cage, I moved her 2 weeks ago. Could that be the problem? HELP!!!!
I am guessing that you can see the chicks moving? I think perhaps you miscounted the days or the hen let them get cooled somewhat which slowed down the hatch. If you can't see anything moving inside the eggs, then they may have unfortunately died in the shell. Hopefully, they are just on a slower hatch schedule.

Maybe someone with more experience has something else to offer.
 
Thank you so much for the input, I will place the chick food in as soon as we have some chicks. We are at day 15 today so another 7 to go. I have her in a 6' x 6' pen with her own 'nesting crate' and the food and water are at the other side of the enclosure and she gets up pretty regularly and stretches her legs, produces the most enormous poop, eats, drinks and goes back to her nest. She has kept it clean so far. Here's hoping...
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Sounds like it is a good set up. Sometimes when people separate, they put them in a small dog crate or something that doesn't always give them room to get up and run around. Sounds like you have a handle on things. Now just sit on your hands and wait. That's the hard part!
 
Hello! I'm new to this group, but am really enjoying all of the great info on this site! I need some advice.....I have a broody hen, an Australorp, and she's been sitting on 4 fertilized eggs for 29 days now. We candled them, and there are definitely chicks inside the eggs. From everything that I've read, the chicks should've hatched by now. What should I do? She's in her own cage, I moved her 2 weeks ago. Could that be the problem? HELP!!!!
I would agree with the previous post. If you see movement, I would leave them, if they are not moving, they may have died in the shell. If that is the case, it may not have anything to do with the move, there are often factors we don't know about or have control over that cause them not to hatch.

If they are "bad eggs" Mama will need to become a surugate or in some way be "broke" from her brooding. Over time brooding is very hard on the mom, due to the limited food and water intake. That will be your next concern if you don't have anything hatch.

Good luck.
 
Got another broody Cuckoo Marans hen. Trying to decide whether or not to giver her some Sultan eggs to sit on. There is a pretty good chance they may be Sultan/Spitzhauben cross. Or maybe Cuckoo Marans cross. But I don't ever see King Louie (the Marans rooster) doing roosterly things with the Sultans. Of course, it may be happening and I don't see it!

Ugh...dilemmas!
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I can't see any movement in the eggs, I'm not sure that I would even know how, to be honest. What is the longest that an egg can go without hatching? I'm positive of the days that the eggs were laid. I marked the date on each egg.
 
I can't see any movement in the eggs, I'm not sure that I would even know how, to be honest. What is the longest that an egg can go without hatching? I'm positive of the days that the eggs were laid. I marked the date on each egg.

I wish I knew what the right answer was for you. I have set 3 broody Marans hens since March. Each had 8 to 12 eggs. My first was moved several times because of poor set up. She sat diligently and hatched all 12 healthy chicks on days 19 & 20. The next two I set at the same time, each with 8 eggs. All but two hatched on day 19. They were never moved. I never candled as most were blue, green, or dark brown eggs. One hen sat on the two unhatched eggs for an additional 3 days, then left them. When I cracked them open they were only watery yolky mess inside. No development what so ever! Those 2 broodies hatched and are still mothering together...the chicks are now 5 weeks old!

I read on here somewhere to do a smell test. Is there anything off if you give them a big smell?
I think I would maybe sacrifice 1 egg and see what is going on. I would think at 29 days if one is dead in the shell they may all be. I know I hated cracking those 2 I had that were later. I was relieved to see they were duds.
 
I can't see any movement in the eggs, I'm not sure that I would even know how, to be honest. What is the longest that an egg can go without hatching? I'm positive of the days that the eggs were laid. I marked the date on each egg.
Really, 23 days is the most. After that, they are probably dead in the shell. Sorry.
 
Been away from this thread for a while, but I thought I'd share my recent Sebright broody pics.
"Trouble" is too small to have fertile eggs by our big English Orp roo, but she was persistent. I ended up giving her a few orp eggs. She was a great mom & lovingly cared for her giant chicks.

Find the chickie

She also adopted a lonely only chick even though it was 4-5 days younger.


Sleeping got complicated around 3 weeks, but she still insisted on covering them

3.5 weeks
The smallest one is in front. I love the expression on Trouble's face and the chicks pancaked beneath her are also priceless.


By 4 weeks, they surpassed mama in size. She stayed with them for 7 weeks until she started laying again.
 

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