ok I dont see this question enough so I thought I would ask because I would like to know how to do it! When you put eggs underneath a chicken when they sleep, wont there legs go up as well because they sleep tucked! and if this is the case do you have the chickens stand on the eggs or do you put the eggs around the chicken as good as you can? Better question to sum it up: How do you properly put the eggs under the chicken w/out have the chicken crushing them? I am not going to do this because my chicks are 10 wks old, too young, I was just curious!
Not sure why you are putting eggs under 10 week old chicks? They aren't old enough to lay yet If you were replacing eggs under a true broody, you can switch eggs whenever. I do it in the morning usually-just get her off the nest, do a quick swap, and she's back on them.
Well, first off, if you are giving eggs to a hen who is broody, meaning it wants to sit on eggs to hatch them, you set the eggs in front of her and she will tuck them under. That's how you tuck them under, by letting her arrange them. You can't force a hen to be broody, it is hormonal and up to the bird.
I just introduced some guinea eggs to a broody silkie last night. I knew she was broody because she had been sitting on two eggs in her coop for two days. I didn't want to move her until I truly knew she was broody. I usually do it at night because I move my hen to a secure isolated location which is in a LARGE plastic storage container in my spare bedroom / junk room. I tuck a few eggs under as best I can and leave the rest around her breast / head area and she tucks them in how she wants usually by morning. I use silkie hens because they cannot fly and are very devoted to sitting on their eggs. When the eggs hatch, I wait for a few days or until the babies start to move around and take them to a secure room in the barn to grow up. I am sure there are many ways to accomplish this task. Hope this helps.
