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

[BackyardDove]

I'm sure you're all tired of me constantly asking new questions, but it appears I am the only person in the area who breeds chickens and intends to have the mothers incubate them rather than a man made incubator. So, this leaves me with no other choice but to rely on BYC for all my chicken breeding problems

To make things simple, I'm going to list off my questions and provide some extra info that may be necessary to answer some of the questions.

1. All but one of my hens has been laying on her eggs at night. They are not brooding because they still have their feathers on their underbellies and they get off of the eggs during the day. This has been going on for 4-5 nights. I'm now locking them up in their coops at night to prevent them from continuing to sit on the eggs. Are the eggs still good or should I pitch them out and have the hens restart their clutch?

2. How many eggs in a clutch can a Silkie hen sit on? And Booted Bantam hen?

3. Should I keep the eggs outside in the nest they were laid in, or should I store them until a hen goes broody? Note that daytime temps have been reaching high 70s to low 80s here.

4. If I should store them, what conditions should they be kept in? Please be specific.

5. Is there an "expiration date" on eggs, whether stored or kept in the nest? Like, if the hen hasn't gone broody after a certain time period, does the probability of hatching drop?

6. Since my hens haven't gone broody yet, should I mark the eggs with the date they were laid on if there is an "expiration date" and pitch out the ones that have 'expired', until my hens go broody and the eggs can be placed under them?

7. I keep my roosters and my hens separate until I want to breed them. When I want to breed them, I put the roosters in with the hens for approximately a week, then put the roosters back into their pens away from the hens. How long will a chicken lay fertile eggs before she needs to be bred again? For example, if I keep the rooster with the hen for a week, but she doesn't go broody in the next two weeks, should I put the rooster back in with the hen for another week to make sure she will be laying fertile eggs when she does go broody?

Additional Info: I put the roosters in with the hens on 3/27 and took them out on 4/3. My roosters and hens have never bred before then. They are all almost 11 months old. Please don't question why I have my roosters and hens separated. I have specific colors and specific breeds I want to breed together and I don't have the land or the money to make several different pens to permanently keep them together.


Thank you!

 

[silkiecuddles]

No problem. Ask away! I ask LOTS of questions as well. It's a great way to learn!
OK, to address #1.
#1. I would toss out all the eggs. You could crack a few to see if they were the least bit fertile.

#2. A silkie can sit on about 10 eggs. Make sure they're all covered. Don't know about booted bantams.

#3 & 4. Store the eggs in a cool, dry place out of direct sunlight. Like an egg carton. I put duck eggs in my incubator last week. I kept them in a berry basket (as many eggs as i get daily, we don't have egg cartons) on the counter by a wall so the sunlight couldn't reach them. They're all fertile and this is week 2.

#5. Eggs on the counter can sit for about 3 weeks, give or take. If she isn't broody, don't leave them in the nest. That's a busted egg waiting to happen.

#6. Pitch the expired ones, then gather eggs till you have all you want to be set on. Or, as I do, let the broody gather all the eggs she wants until they spill over and hope for a chick. Which, in my case, a chick hatched.

#7. Hm. Tough one. Mine all free range, which gives me mixed breeds. I had a blue silkie rooster die. A white silkie hen that shared his coop hatched a blue/white chick about 3 weeks later. If that says anything about their fertility.

I wouldn't collect eggs for your hens until you're sure the hen is broody.Several times my broody just takes eggs which I don't find out about for days. It's always exciting coming out and seeing a chick under your unknown broody.
What kind of silkies do you have?
Hope that all helps! I'm kind of a beginner (since last year), but I've learned a lot from BYC people, and my chickens. Good luck!

 

[BackyardDove]

They should of been fertile. Unless the roos don't exactly know how to breed yet and couldn't breed them. I'm confused, are you telling me to pitch out the eggs or let them continue sitting on them..? You said to pitch them out, then you said I shouldn't collect the eggs until I know she's broody. Which, if she's gone broody, I don't need to worry about collecting or pitching eggs anyways. Thank you for responding, by the way!
I own a black Silke rooster and hen, a white Silkie rooster and hen, a buff Silkie rooster and hen, and a Silver Partridge rooster. The Silver Partridge is much older than the others though. I didn't intend on getting a pair of each color(I actually didn't want that), but unfortunately you can't always pick the gender of your chickens

 

[silkiecuddles]

They should of been fertile. Unless the roos don't exactly know how to breed yet and couldn't breed them. I'm confused, are you telling me to pitch out the eggs or let them continue sitting on them..? You said to pitch them out, then you said I shouldn't collect the eggs until I know she's broody. Which, if she's gone broody, I don't need to worry about collecting or pitching eggs anyways. Thank you for responding, by the way!
I own a black Silke rooster and hen, a white Silkie rooster and hen, a buff Silkie rooster and hen, and a Silver Partridge rooster. The Silver Partridge is much older than the others though. I didn't intend on getting a pair of each color(I actually didn't want that), but unfortunately you can't always pick the gender of your chickens

I mean pitch them and don't COLLECT them FOR her until you're SURE she's broody

 

[themenagerie]

You're wasting your time (and yummy breakfasts) until she's broody. A broody hen will not leave the nest, she'll stay on it day and night, flat as a pancake and growl and hiss at you if you try to touch the nest. She'll get off once a day to eat/drink a bit and leave a big pile of stinky, broody poo. You can't make a hen go broody, nor can you break them of it easily. It's just one of those things that you have to wait for it to happen.

To give you a general idea of how often that happens... I have about 40 laying hens. Every year I may have one or two that go broody, and one of them goes broody a couple times a year (Orpington). Most never do.

 

[BackyardDove]

You're wasting your time (and yummy breakfasts) until she's broody. A broody hen will not leave the nest, she'll stay on it day and night, flat as a pancake and growl and hiss at you if you try to touch the nest. She'll get off once a day to eat/drink a bit and leave a big pile of stinky, broody poo. You can't make a hen go broody, nor can you break them of it easily. It's just one of those things that you have to wait for it to happen.

To give you a general idea of how often that happens... I have about 40 laying hens. Every year I may have one or two that go broody, and one of them goes broody a couple times a year (Orpington). Most never do.

I know this. But if I am always collecting her eggs, when she does go broody she'll have nothing to lay on, because I took all her eggs. Silkies are very well known for their broodiness, so I'm not worried about them never going broody. It also takes about 2-3 Silkie eggs just to match the large eggs my laying hens lay(Which, I have plenty of their eggs anyways), so I don't mind wasting their eggs. They were never meant to be just egg layers, I bought and raised them solely so they could have chicks.

 

[themenagerie]

Trust me..once she goes broody, you'll have plenty of time to collect eggs from the other hens, until then, you're just wasting them, which is fine of course if you don't mind doing that... i just like eating mine. If you're hoping to use only hers..then odds are you're going to be waiting a while, but maybe she'll be cooperative and go broody on demand for you.

 

[silkiecuddles]

If its a silkie, she'll probably go broody soon. One of mine went broody about six times in two years-ish. Some chickens are just naturally more broody than others.

 

[BackyardDove]

Trust me..once she goes broody, you'll have plenty of time to collect eggs from the other hens, until then, you're just wasting them, which is fine of course if you don't mind doing that... i just like eating mine. If you're hoping to use only hers..then odds are you're going to be waiting a while, but maybe she'll be cooperative and go broody on demand for you.

That's just it, I don't want my hens sitting on another's hen's eggs. I want them to sit on their own eggs, if possible. I say "her" and "she", but I don't mean just a singular hen, I mean all four of my breeding hens. Last year, all my hens who ended up going broody all went broody at the same time(same day, I think), so I'm afraid they might do that too.

Quote:
I figure they will go broody soon, which is exactly why I'm asking all these questions. If the eggs sitting out there are bad because they were being sat on only at night, I don't want her wasting her energy on them. I'd rather pitch them if they are bad, so I know the eggs they lay after are good. I thought about maybe letting them go broody with some dove or quail eggs to sit on so they'll get an idea of how to raise chicks, but I'm afraid they may take forever to become unbroody(If the eggs are bad and never hatch), lay fertile eggs, then go broody again.

 

[FarmerMac]

I know this. But if I am always collecting her eggs, when she does go broody she'll have nothing to lay on, because I took all her eggs. Silkies are very well known for their broodiness, so I'm not worried about them never going broody. It also takes about 2-3 Silkie eggs just to match the large eggs my laying hens lay(Which, I have plenty of their eggs anyways), so I don't mind wasting their eggs. They were never meant to be just egg layers, I bought and raised them solely so they could have chicks.

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.