Questions on breeding, incubating, and problems with first time breeding hens

[BackyardDove]

You could collect the eggs and separate them in egg cartons for each one of your hens if you want them to hatch their own eggs. Put some fake eggs in the nest so they sit on them until they go broody. You can use golf balls if you don't have fake egs.

That's what I was thinking, though I didn't think about golf balls. That's a good idea. I was dreading having to buy those expensive wooden eggs, but just using golf balls is cheaper and better. But should I pitch out the eggs they already have since they've been sat on half the time?

I think what I'm going to end up doing is keeping separate egg cartons for each hen, keep the cartons inside(We keep the house at 75 degrees, if that matters), date when they were laid, reintroduce/breed the roosters with the hens for a week if they haven't gone broody after two weeks of the rooster being away to ensure fertility, keep golf balls under the hens until they go broody, and when they do go broody I'll put the top 10 eggs that were most recently laid(or have the highest chance of being fertile) under her. How does this plan sound? Is there anything I'm missing?

 

[FarmerMac]

I don't toss old eggs or the ones that are not viable when candled, I hard boil them and then mixed them with the chicken feed. My chickens love hard boiled egg chunks. The same goes for the egg shells, I crush them into small pieces and feed them to the girls.

 

[BackyardDove]

I don't toss old eggs or the ones that are not viable when candled, I hard boil them and then mixed them with the chicken feed. My chickens love hard boiled egg chunks. The same goes for the egg shells, I crush them into small pieces and feed them to the girls.

How can I tell if they are viable still? If they have grown at all, they shouldn't have grown enough to show up as being fertile when candled. Does seeing if they float or sink a good idea in this case? I've given my laying hens eggs shells before, but they have no interest in them. I've also tried crushed oyster shells, but again no interest.

 

[FarmerMac]

How can I tell if they are viable still? If they have grown at all, they shouldn't have grown enough to show up as being fertile when candled. Does seeing if they float or sink a good idea in this case? I've given my laying hens eggs shells before, but they have no interest in them. I've also tried crushed oyster shells, but again no interest.

You can candle them to see if they have developed. I usually check them after day 7 to see if they have spider veins. There is a great post in this board that shows the egg development day by day. I have done the float test on eggs that were past their due date. I used warm water 99-100 degrees and you can see the eggs move if they are alive. Have not done a float test with newer eggs.
As for the egg shells, I mixed them with their crumble feed mixed with scratch grain, a little water so it is moist not too wet. usually they leave some in their feeders but most of the time they eat them up. As for oyster shells, I have a separate container with the oyster shell for them to eat from, some time I just throw it on the grown and they will eat, I guess they know when they need calcium because some times they wont touch the oyster crumbs other times, they just gobble it up.

 

[BackyardDove]

You can candle them to see if they have developed. I usually check them after day 7 to see if they have spider veins. There is a great post in this board that shows the egg development day by day. I have done the float test on eggs that were past their due date. I used warm water 99-100 degrees and you can see the eggs move if they are alive. Have not done a float test with newer eggs.
As for the egg shells, I mixed them with their crumble feed mixed with scratch grain, a little water so it is moist not too wet. usually they leave some in their feeders but most of the time they eat them up. As for oyster shells, I have a separate container with the oyster shell for them to eat from, some time I just throw it on the grown and they will eat, I guess they know when they need calcium because some times they wont touch the oyster crumbs other times, they just gobble it up.

Alright, I'll try that. Thank you!

I've decided to go ahead and take the eggs away from the hens. I put two golf balls in each nest instead. I'm marking the date the egg was laid via a piece of marked tape and I've put them in egg cartons that are sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm going to put the roosters in with the hens for a week every two weeks until they go broody. When they do go broody, I'll put the 10 most recently laid eggs underneath each hen. Hopefully this plan will work out and won't be a big waste of time!