Today is lockdown. Just gave the eggs to my broody!

[dianneS]

Today is lockdown for my bator eggs. I candled them early this morning. Everyone looks good, most of the egg is dark, can't see much through the brown and green shells, but I don't think anyone has died.

I have a broody on the nest. She's in an upper level nest box where the other hens don't bother her. She successfully hatched six refrigerated eggs, in that nest box, and everything was fine.

I'm thinking of giving her these eggs to hatch. She's got four under her now that I could bring in and put in the bator, just switch the eggs tonight after dark. I'm scared she may screw them up though! Should I give them to her now, or wait another day or so? Sunday should be hatch day. The other thing is that these eggs are really big and she is really small. I'm afraid she might not be able to cover all of them. Its only seven eggs, but seven big eggs. She hatched six medium to large eggs in her last batch and was able to keep all of them warm.

What should I do?

 

[BirdBrain]

Having no experience with your situation, I should warn you to take my advice in the spirit it is intended, but with a liberal dose of salt...
I think that if I had any concerns of her ability to cover them I would wait til hatch and then trade them out at night for the eggs she has.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! I've done just that when I didn't feel like heating up a hatcher for a small group of eggs.
What you could do is put the Day 18 eggs under the hen and put the eggs she's on now in the incubator.
Move the chicks as soon as they hatch to a heated brooder and replace them with the eggs she was setting.
No muss, no fussing w/ a hatcher and the hen gets to finish hatching her original eggs.
It works here, anyway.
Good luck!

Lisa

 

[dianneS]

I was actually thinking of letting her raise the larger clutch since it would be less hassle for me and I would hatch the smaller clutch (her original eggs which aren't even her eggs anyway, they belong to an EE cross) and put those into a brooder. That way I would only have four chicks in the house, and less stink that way!

If I'm going to put the eggs under her, should I do it now, or wait a little longer? I could put them under her tonight, but I'll be a nervous wreck until they hatch!

I could wait until the chicks hatch to give them to her. If I do that, when to I put them under her?

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Hi! Since the eggs are so close to hatch, I'd go ahead and move them now. Is your hen going to have a hissy if you stick your hand under her to swap out the eggs? Mine are mellow and don't seem to care, but 'now or tonight' depends on your hen.
I don't know about giving her the chicks after they hatch --- I know it's do-able, but I haven't tried that here.
Good luck!

Lisa

 

[Eagle2026]

If you let her raise the chicks she will start to lay sooner than if you try to switch back too.
I personally would take the chicks away just to keep them safe.
My broody hen has tried three times to raise her own and for some reason she gets alittle better every time, without success.
What ever you do good luck,
Mike

 

[dianneS]

This hen is a good mom. She'll do a good job of raising the chicks. I'm not worried about that. She won't have much of a hissy fit if I reach under her. She's used to it and maybe will try to peck me, but other than that she doesn't care. She's really committed to the nest. I think I could pick her up and flip her over on her back at this point and she won't move a muscle!

I was thinking I'd give her the eggs tonight rather than today because she might get off the nest to eat and poop during the day. At least I know she'll stay on them all night if I wait until evening.

 

[dianneS]

Okay, I just set the eggs underneath her! She's really committed. Didn't move at all, until she got tired of me messing with her. Then she started pecking me a lot! That was when she was sitting on the NEW eggs!

She covered all of them, and settled down on top of the new eggs. She has seven big eggs underneath her and I had a smaller broody set on 10 medium sized eggs and they all hatched. I'm thinking she'll be able to keep them all warm.

I'm hoping for the best right now but really nervous! I'll probably go out and check on her several times tonight.

I brought her eggs in the house and candled them before I put them in the bator. Only two are developing. One was dead, and the other two hadn't developed at all. So I've only got two eggs in the bator now. They seem further developed than I thought they would be. I wonder if the new ones she setting on hatch in a day or two and these in the bator hatch shortly after, If I could get her to adopt these chicks too??

 

[BirdBrain]

I don't think hens can count. If there isn't more than a couple of days difference, I bet she would take them.

 

[dianneS]

Quote:
Oh good, I hope so! I had a chick adopt a hen and her brood of ten chicks, several days after the ten chicks hatched and were out running around. This little chick was sitting under one of my Cochins who just refused to get off the nest until the rest of the eggs hatched, and that first chick got sick of sitting around on that nest, so she hopped off and joined the other mom and her ten babies! The adopted mom is the sister to this broody, so hopefully it will work!