citychicks99
Songster
I think my 3-year-old RIR, Jack, is broody to my surprise. I went on vacation for a week and when I came back I found her sitting on 8 eggs, 4 of which are hers, 4 belong to another hen she shares her coop with sometimes.
I'm hesitating to let her hatch chicks because a few weeks ago she was having trouble laying eggs as they were soft shell eggs. I mixed rooster booster in her feed and she started laying again. That makes me think her health may be at risk if I let her sit on eggs for 3 weeks, knowing how taxing it is on a hen to hatch chicks. I think she also may have some sort of genetic defect that caused her to be half the size of her peers and curled toes, so that makes me think maybe her chicks might not come to be very healthy. My other hens who seem healthier and who have hatched chicks didn't have a high hatch rate. One of them laid 13 eggs and only 5 hatched. Last summer, two hens laid 15 eggs, 3 were eaten I think, they hatched 4 and I brought the rest inside since it was a staggered hatch and I hatched 2. So the hatch rate has been less than 50%, and since Jack only has 8 eggs, that makes me think maybe only 1-3 may hatch, if any.
The two reasons I'm thinking of letting her hatch chicks is because she's my favorite and I'd love to have more of her, and she gets bullied by the other hens, so I think it'd be good for her to have her own flock, but for the reasons I shared above, it's making me unsure and questioning if it's worth the risk.
Am I overthinking this or would I be risking her health based on what I said?
Update: I got her off her nest and almost all the eggs have poo on them so I think they wouldn't be viable any way. I've decided to break her from her broodiness.
I'm hesitating to let her hatch chicks because a few weeks ago she was having trouble laying eggs as they were soft shell eggs. I mixed rooster booster in her feed and she started laying again. That makes me think her health may be at risk if I let her sit on eggs for 3 weeks, knowing how taxing it is on a hen to hatch chicks. I think she also may have some sort of genetic defect that caused her to be half the size of her peers and curled toes, so that makes me think maybe her chicks might not come to be very healthy. My other hens who seem healthier and who have hatched chicks didn't have a high hatch rate. One of them laid 13 eggs and only 5 hatched. Last summer, two hens laid 15 eggs, 3 were eaten I think, they hatched 4 and I brought the rest inside since it was a staggered hatch and I hatched 2. So the hatch rate has been less than 50%, and since Jack only has 8 eggs, that makes me think maybe only 1-3 may hatch, if any.
The two reasons I'm thinking of letting her hatch chicks is because she's my favorite and I'd love to have more of her, and she gets bullied by the other hens, so I think it'd be good for her to have her own flock, but for the reasons I shared above, it's making me unsure and questioning if it's worth the risk.
Am I overthinking this or would I be risking her health based on what I said?
Update: I got her off her nest and almost all the eggs have poo on them so I think they wouldn't be viable any way. I've decided to break her from her broodiness.
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