Rooster and broody hen

[Sidneyeve98]

So i have a rooster and a hen and she has laid 12 eggs in her nest but she hasnt yet laid on them....when is she supposed to be laying on her eggs? She goes in and lays on her nest for like 10 min maybe each day like shes laying more eggs? and then is off foraging in the yard with the rooster. Is this normal?

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Yes, that's normal for a hen that is not broody. Has she gone broody before?

A hen normally will lay in the same nest. You should be collecting the eggs daily. If you hope for her to go broody (as she has in the past), place them pointy end down in an egg carton with an edge propped up with a pencil. Mark in pencil the date you gathered the egg. At 1 week of age, remove from the hatching carton as that egg should be used rather than hatched since fertilization wanes begin 1 week after being laid.

You can leave a couple marked DUD in the nest to encourage her to sit, but you can't force broodiness on a hen. Most commercially raised breeds simply won't brood as it has been selected out of them as the industry favors egg production, not broodiness.

Hopefully she'll go broody. If she does, you'll have fresh eggs to place under her, after she has settled for a full 2 days in a Zen-like trance, never leaving the nest except for 20 minutes or so to poo, eat, and drink.

Good luck.
LofMc

 

[nuthatched]

There's nothing you can do to make a hen broody, it's a hormone thing. Some breeds are less likely to go broody.

 

[Sidneyeve98]

Yes, that's normal for a hen that is not broody. Has she gone broody before?

A hen normally will lay in the same nest. You should be collecting the eggs daily. If you hope for her to go broody (as she has in the past), place them pointy end down in an egg carton with an edge propped up with a pencil. Mark in pencil the date you gathered the egg. At 1 week of age, remove from the hatching carton as that egg should be used rather than hatched since fertilization wanes begin 1 week after being laid.

You can leave a couple marked DUD in the nest to encourage her to sit, but you can't force broodiness on a hen. Most commercially raised breeds simply won't brood as it has been selected out of them as the industry favors egg production, not broodiness.

Hopefully she'll go broody. If she does, you'll have fresh eggs to place under her, after she has settled for a full 2 days in a Zen-like trance, never leaving the nest except for 20 minutes or so to poo, eat, and drink.

Good luck.
LofMc

So since she hasnt been sitting on the nest like she should if she were to be broody then i should collect the eggs or they are no good now that ive let them sit in the nest for almost 2 weeks i believe she has been laying an egg everyday now for the last week or two

 

[Battlepants]

Of note with DUD eggs, you can also do this with golf balls if you want a more durable and reusable solution. While I haven't used to to encourage anyone to go broody, I can say that this helped quite a bit in training new layers on where the eggs are supposed to go and expect similar results with a broody.

 

[Sidneyeve98]

Of note with DUD eggs, you can also do this with golf balls if you want a more durable and reusable solution. While I haven't used to to encourage anyone to go broody, I can say that this helped quite a bit in training new layers on where the eggs are supposed to go and expect similar results with a broody.

So is it okay for me to still collect these eggs shes laid in her nest and are they okay to eat? Or is it different if they were fertilized?

 

[Battlepants]

So since she hasnt been sitting on the nest like she should if she were to be broody then i should collect the eggs or they are no good now that ive let them sit in the nest for almost 2 weeks i believe she has been laying an egg everyday now for the last week or two

Get a bowl of water and put the eggs in there. If they sink and lay on the side, it will be safe to eat. Refrigerate after doing this as it likely disturbs the membrane keeping them bacteria free. If they sink but stand upright, they are nearing end of being safe to eat, but are still edible - use very soon or hardboil. If they float, send 'em to the compost pile.

But yea, if the eggs haven't maintained a temperature around 100F, there will be practically no development in them. And with her only sitting there for 10 minutes (presumably just the time it takes to drop another egg), these would have been outside of the development temperature basically the whole time.

Edit:
Looks like we were typing things out at the same time here. But yea, fertilized, ultimately it only matters if development happened, and it sounds like it wouldn't due to low temperatures. Differences to expect in fertilized vs non-fertilized is that the little white spot has a halo on it in fertilized. 4 hens in my flock have a rooster, none are broody, so I'm sure we eat quite a few fertilized eggs and they are no different than the non-fertilized.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I would take those eggs out and water test them as stated above. If your weather isn't super hot, chances are the eggs are okay to eat. Water test will let you know.

But since you have eggs 14, 13, 12, 11....days old, you should start anew. You don't want to set eggs over 7 days of age due to fertility decreasing as the egg ages.

Fertilized eggs are fine to eat. You will only notice a "bullseye" white ring (rooster's dna) around the white dot (hen's dna) on the egg yolk. That shows they are fertile. Which you should check, otherwise it's pointless to set if she does go broody.

Keep changing eggs out marking them each day pulled freshly off the nest. Rotate out those over 7 days of age.

I've found stashes of eggs, water tested, and they were fine. Remember eggs are made so that they don't spoil for 21 days otherwise all the chicks would rot....but that's different than fertilized fresh.

If she doesn't go broody, you can consider incubating the eggs yourself. Or do what I did, purchase a notoriously broody Silkie mother from a breeder. She set every 3 to 4 months, and I hatched a lot of chicks with her.

LofMc

 

[aart]

So is it okay for me to still collect these eggs shes laid in her nest and are they okay to eat?

Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.


When in doubt....
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.


When in doubt....
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.

Yep. That’s what I would do The water test is nice but if I’m in question I always crack them open and a small separate bowl before using them. If anything looks off about the egg or obviously any kind of odor and discard. Otherwise enjoy. I would think the eggs would be fine to eat depending on if they have stayed dry which being in a nesting box i’m guessing they have and the temperature