One Broody Hen

[mopsee2000]

I have 8 hens. One hen is broody for a while now. The other hens lay eggs in her nest and she sits on them. No other hen sits on the eggs. The first two eggs hatched. My first chicks. One is obviously hers. The other is not. It's obvious. Silver phoenix hen and the kids are a silver phoenix and a Plymouth rock. The rock is black with a yellow spot on its head. My two roosters are Rhode island red and silver phoenix. Here is my first question; she has raised the chicks so far, they are two weeks old. The rock hen pays no attention to the chicks. The phoenix does not allow the other hens near them. She is obviously not the mother. Is it common for one broody hen to adopt the other eggs and raise the chicks as her own? The other hens lay eggs that she is sitting on right now. I know this is what has happened as she lays white eggs and none of the eggs she sits on are white. They are 14 brown and 3 blue. Now for my next question which will come after a sad story and let me remind everyone, that I am new at this. I collected the eggs from the other part of my coops, that I eat everyday. I got one from under the broody hen. I placed the egg in a glass of ice water as you tube said if it shook, there was a chick in there. But nothing. It was perfectly still. I waited about 5 minutes. The I was going to make an omelet. I hatched the first eggs into a bowl. Then I got the second egg out of the glass of ice water and cracked it. I was mortified and I still have not recovered. A baby chick came out. It was fully formed. It had a red pocket that I assumed was its nutrition in the egg. The phoenix is still laying on the other 17 and I have not touched any more. Nothing new has hatched but here is the time table. I took all the eggs from under her leaving two. The two I left hatched and those are the babies I first wrote about. The two eggs left were one brown and one white. That was April 25. Over the course of the next 5 days, she had 18 eggs under her including some that were layed before the two I left hatched.. Since May 1, no new eggs have been added. When she leaves in the morning, she buries the eggs. When she returns she unburies and sits on the eggs. If she leaves again, she buries again. Here's the question. I hatched the egg with a chick in it two days ago. I have vowed to never touch her eggs again. But if any of the eggs are not fertilized, will they rot and stink and ruin the others? What should I do? And finally, possible mothers; 3 barred plymouth rock, 1 silver phoenix, 1 welsumer, 3 Easter eggers. I assume the black chick is a plymouth rock/ rhode island mix and the other is straight silver phoenix. The only two possible fathers are 1 silver phoenix and 1 red. Can I assume this lineage by looking.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A broody hen will try to incubate her own eggs, any other hen’s eggs, duck eggs, turkey eggs, door knobs, or golf ball. If nothing else is available, she will try to incubate using only her imagination. If anything hatches, she will try to raise it. Turkey, duck, goose, chicken, doesn’t matter.

That float test you mentioned to see if a chick is in there only works on eggs due to hatch. It’s best used when eggs are late. The chick has to develop to a certain stage, like internal pip, for the egg to wiggle. It is not used to see if there is a developing chick in there.

It does not matter if the egg is fertilized or not. If bacteria gets inside the egg, it will multiply and the egg will turn rotten. Incubation temperature is the perfect temperature for bacteria to multiply. If a chick is developing, the chick will die. Chickens, ducks, turkeys and others lay eggs for a week or two to develop a clutch and then sit on them however long it takes for them to hatch, for some ducks as long as five additional weeks. Very very few get bacteria inside, even on nests on the ground. When an egg is laid, the last thing that goes on is a liquid layer called “bloom”. That’s why a fresh laid egg may be wet. The bloom dries really quickly. Its job is to try to prevent bacteria from entering the egg. It is not a perfect barrier but usually if the egg is not really dirty or if the bloom is not washed or scratched off, it is pretty darn effective.

I don’t know enough about silver phoenix and Easter Eggers can be about anything genetically so I can’t be real sure about those chicks. Unless you have a black or black barred Easter Egger, the Barred Rock is certainly the mother of that black chick. I know the red rooster could be the father. As I said, I’m not real familiar with silver phoenix, but the black in the barred rock is a real powerful color. It would probably overwhelm anything the silver phoenix contributed, so I think the phoenix could be the daddy but I’m guessing on that. With that spot on its head, that black chick is probably a rooster.

The other chick I don’t know. The Easter Eggers could be about anything genetically so I just don’t know.

The next time you get a broody hen, if you want to hatch eggs, I suggest you collect all the eggs you want her to hatch, mark them so you can tell which ones belong, and start them at the same time. I use a black Sharpie and make two circles, one the long way and one the short way so no matter how the egg is laying I can immediately tell which ones belongs. Then, every day without fail check under her after the others have laid and remove any eggs that are not marked. As long as you remove them every day you can use them and not get the surprise you got with that other egg. I know that was bad.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

 

[Dawns Funy Farm]

take all the eggs she has in the nest and candle them to see if any are still alive if they not , trash them . she is not still setting on the eggs all the time so they are probably not good or if they are still alive i hope you either have another broody hen to stick them under or an incubator to try to finish the hatch with . good luck

 

[mopsee2000]

Thank you. I candled three eggs. 2 brown and 1 blue. The blue and 1 brown were opaque. They looked as if the shell was too thick. I brown looked as follows;

 

[mopsee2000]

today was hatch day and it was bad. She laid on the eggs very part time. I finally helped. # eggs were loaded with green liquid that stank really bad.about 10 or so were just normal eggs with blood in them. 2 were like hard boiled eggs and they also smelled. 1 dead baby chick. I hatched carefully and pulled away shell carefully. The chick was dead and extremely small but a chick with nothing extra. I hope next time is better. The baby must have been dead for a while because it also stunk bad.