Putting eggs under a broody

[pennyJo1960]

I left egg from the Silky with them I call them my living breathing alien incubators
now I left their own eggs two days Mud one of my silky growled a a Silky Growl when i took a banty egg so gave her a marans egg I had in my little mechanical bator 6 of those valid all went to Mud to finish they are due to hatch next week but the silky have their own private coop co brood co raise them

 

[aart]

If she has enough space in her area is this a problem?

Wasn't here, she had 4x6 space.
Not being able to dust bath could be an issue for broody,
dust her with permethrin as a deterrent.

 

[lutherpug]

Wasn't here, she had 4x6 space.
Not being able to dust bath could be an issue for broody,
dust her with permethrin as a deterrent.

Sounds like a plan. Thank you!

 

[lutherpug]

Did you say your eggs will be shipped? If so, it is recommended that you let them sit over night so the air cells can reattach. Sorry if someone already mentioned that in this thread, I did not see it if they did.
Good luck with your broody, it's always so fun to see the hen with her chicks!

Yes. Thank you for bringing this up. I’ve incubated eggs before, I’ve just never hatched under a broody. I’ll give them a rest overnight then set them in the nesting area then move her over. If the eggs show up this evening I will plan to get them under her early tomorrow morning. I’ll post a picture of the area I set up once I get it done. I’m excited!

 

[lutherpug]

The other thing to consider is that shipped eggs often have poor hatch rates -- the rough and tumble of shipping can be rough on eggs!

For example, I put 15 eggs in my incubator last year and 5 hatched (I've previously had 90% to 100% hatch rates with non-shipped eggs).

So, I would do as Ridgerunner suggests. Put what is comfortable under your hen, and the rest in the bator. Then, candle everything at day 10 and remove any duds from under the hen or in the incubator. If there are several duds, you can transfer remaining viable eggs in the bator, to the hen, and let her do the rest.

I think I was asking my candling question as you were typing this

Maybe it is just luck, but all of my Ebay eggs have hatch rates in excess of 50%. These were packaged a little differently than my other shipped eggs but not necessarily poorly. Time will tell, I guess. Hopefully she hatches some and they are easily integrated into the flock.

 

[Morrigan]

View attachment 1726590 View attachment 1726591 View attachment 1726592
Here’s what we ended up with. Not beautiful but functional . I put 5 eggs she had sat on all day plus my 2 fake eggs in that box and then put her in it. She almost immediate tucked the eggs underneath her so we promptly shut out the light. Hoping to switch the eggs out for the fertile ones around 5am. I’m still debating what I want to do as far as incubating. I’ll probably split them... should probably go set up the incubator. Do you candle your broody eggs or just let them be? In the incubator I usually candle at least at 7 and 14 days as well as immediately before lockdown.

That set up should work just fine. Please keep us posted as to how to all works out.

 

[aart]

I might candle broody eggs once at about 10 days, just to pull duds.
Incubator I go 7-14-18 to trace air cells and adjust humidity...
....more often if I find issues when candling before setting.

 

[Morrigan]

My views on candling under a broody changed after I had a rotten egg explode under a broody at day 17. I now check at the 10-14 day range to pull duds.

 

[MROO]

Start looking on craigs list for a second coop Please for now I do not see a problem with you doing that

X2 on the second coop - or a dog kennel with hardware cloth wrapped around it so peeps can't sneak out through the large wiring. My broody is currently in a rabbit hutch, inside the larger coop. It has a solid bottom, so tiny chick-legs can't drop through.
As long as Mama has access to food and water, she'll be fine in a confined space - she's not really going anywhere any time soon, anyway! Just keep after those massive broody-poo piles, or you'll have a really nasty mess in a really short time!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Dog kennels with hardware cloth are perfect