This problem is killing me, seriously don't know what to do...please help

[Alison W]

We've had chickens for four years. This is the first year we've had roosters and therefore, this is the first Spring that we've had fertile eggs and broody hens. There was never an issue before, I just collected all the eggs. This year I figured, ok, I'll let them do their thing and I let several hens brood clutches of eggs.

Here's the problem:

The hens either 1.) forgot which nesting box was theirs and abandoned the developing eggs they had been sitting on and went into a different box or 2.) other hens continued to lay in the same nesting box with the brooding hen resulting in way too many eggs for her to cover and no way for me to know which ones were the old, developing ones and which were the newly laid ones.

So, brilliantly, I collected all the extra eggs and put them in an incubator. Anyone with experience (which is NOT me) knows what comes next...half are hatching and half are EXPLODING foul nastiness all over the incubator and the other eggs. This is happening on a daily basis in my laundry room and my husband is not pleased. It kills me to just dump all the eggs because I know some of them are developing life and I don't want to snuff them out. I tried to guess which were bad this morning by looking for a black tinge to the eggs...I had about a 60/40 success rate; meaning that 60% were rotten but the other 40% were little chicks...one of which was probably only a day or so from hatching. Just. Kill. Me. Now.

This SUCKS!! Any wisdom would be so gratefully received. I have a plan for next year...but what do I do now?

Also, a side question...I do have a couple bantams that actually managed to hatch out their own eggs. What do you feed when you have chicks with Mommas? Chick starter or layers blend? Whatever it is, the whole flock will get it.

 

[elch]

candle the eggs

 

[mollybuck]

well, i dont know what I would do. have you candled the eggs to see which are duds? i would clean as best as I can and remove them, because that nastiness can ruin the ones that are developing.

As for the broodies, when they go brood, move her and the nest to her own area or block (fence?) off her nesting box so she can get out and move but the others cant get in?

Sorry, this seems like it would be a nightmare. I hope someone can help you.

 

[iwiw60]

I'm planning on letting my hens, if broody, hatch also. But she needs to be moved, eggs and all to a separate area...here's an idea of what I'm going to do:


This way they can have their privacy and you won't get more eggs added to the mix...hope this will give you some ideas. You could also use a dog crate and set it up for them, too...good luck!!

 

[Alison W]

So grateful for your input. I am going to start candling all the eggs...I've never done it before but I'm going to watch a YouTube video first. At this point, I'm nervous every time I handle the eggs...I'm worried that they're going to explode.

The dog crate idea is great. I've actually already set one up for another of my hens. I'll be better prepared next year.

Does anyone have advice about what to feed when there are chicks with the Mommas? Do I use Chick Starter or Layers Blend?

Appreciate you all very much...thank you again.