Unsuccesful hatch from broody hen. What went wrong?

[abita17]

Hilda is frequently broody. We have two roosters so when I discovered her sitting on a clutch of eggs I decided to go ahead and let nature take its course. Nature may have indeed taken course- but it ended with no hatched chicks- and a Hen that is still broody and now sitting on air. Im hoping for some advice for what I may have done that wasnt helpful. Some ways I think I went awry:
1. She was sitting on 17 eggs! She had just been collecting them for about a week as hens were laying- until I closed off that portion of the coop.

2. The eggs got really stinky. We candled them about 2 weeks or so in- I thought this may be better because I would have a better chance of determining fertilized from unfertilized. When we went to candle them a few had broken- and there were maggots and the rest od the eggs were so smelly and filthy.
3. We tried to clean them carefully with a dry rag- because We couldnt see through the eggs at all- we soon realized that it wasnt
The dirt/poop/egg yuck obscuring the view- but that it was developing.
4. We marked 5 that were totally obscured and 4 others that seemed to have something in them- cleaned her nest and put them back. Each day we made a point to check for broken eggs because I thought the other 4 may have stalled out- or may have just been earlier in the process because she collected them over a weeks time. All but two ended up breaking. The two that remained didnt hatch and we ended up tossing them around a week past due.

Im not sure if I should give her more eggs or try to break her broodiness-but if its ok to let her try again Id like to give them the best chance possible and eliminate human error. I appreciate any input/advice you may have! Ive raised baby chicks in a brooder but have no experience at all with hatching. Thanks!

 

[littleprairieheartsfarm]

I can't help you as I am in the same boat, so hopefully someone with more experience can help. We went ahead and gave our broody more eggs to sit on as she sat tight on nothing and we are on Day 19, but she is getting restless. How long has she been broody?

 

[Robert G]

I had one hen that only had 2 eggs and both failed her. I did attempt giving her another set but she didn't stay broody long enough to hatch. She left the nest with only days left. Luckily another hen went broody and sat on her nest and hatched both eggs. So just depends if she will stay on them for another 3 weeks.

 

[KittyCat13]

I wouldn't attempt another hatch with her, being broody really takes in out of them and I think it would be hard work for a hen to do 7 weeks on a nest. I would break her broodiness personally.

When my hens go broody I put them on fake eggs/golf balls then select the eggs I want them to sit on myself, then you can ensure no cracks etc. I would go with a lot less then 17 eggs too, that's a lot of eggs for a hen to keep warm and you risk eggs not developing properly/breaking if there are too many under a hen.

I would also candle at a week rather than leave it until 2 weeks, that way you can discard unfertilised and quitters before they go smelly and break!

It's all a learning curve, I would definitely try again next time she/ another hen goes broody, it's lovely seeing a hen with her chicks!

 

[gocgo]

Well, my mistake was that I didn't isolate the broody hen and, therefore, had other hens piling in on top of her laying eggs. One ended up breaking and made an mess of the others and things went downhill from there. So, I would think that the bacteria from the broken egg ruined the others. Next time, I'll isolate right away.

 

[cassie]

This doesn't have anything to do with this, but I will tell you my last experience of hatching eggs under a broody. Figured since she was trying to hatch a clutch of iris bulbs I would give her some real eggs. The neighbor gave me a dozen fertile eggs. I put them under my broody. I got 100% hatch. I also got 100% cockerels. Not a pullet in the bunch. No, I don't blame the broody, but even now I think it was kind of funny.

 

[BullChick]

If she still looks good, let her have eggs again. It’s only “okay” if she doesn’t look too thin. Keep an eye on her, and hand feed her if you can.
Or give her babies that are 1-3 days old at night.

 

[abita17]

When my hens go broody I put them on fake eggs/golf balls then select the eggs I want them to sit on myself, then you can ensure no cracks etc. I would go with a lot less then 17 eggs too, that's a lot of eggs for a hen to keep warm and you risk eggs not developing properly/breaking if there are!

I wouldn't attempt another hatch with her, being broody really takes in out of them and I think it would be hard work for a hen to do 7 weeks on a nest. I would break her broodiness personally.

When my hens go broody I put them on fake eggs/golf balls then select the eggs I want them to sit on myself, then you can ensure no cracks etc. I would go with a lot less then 17 eggs too, that's a lot of eggs for a hen to keep warm and you risk eggs not developing properly/breaking if there are too many under a hen.

I would also candle at a week rather than leave it until 2 weeks, that way you can discard unfertilised and quitters before they go smelly and break!

It's all a learning curve, I would definitely try again next time she/ another hen goes broody, it's lovely seeing a hen with her chicks!

That is great advice! When my next hen goes broody I will definitely try to pick the best eggs for her. When it comes to selecting eggs- Do they need to be put under the hen in a certain time period after they've been laid? I usually collect eggs around 3-4pm- would they all still be hatch able even if they were laid earlier that day? (Assuming they were fertile of course!) also- if the eggs do get dirty somehow- should you try to clean them or leave them?

 

[Jbently28]

It really just depends on the hen itself. I have a hen that laid for 5 weeks until she finally had a successful hatch. She was my first broody. I made the same mistake of not separating her and ended up with a staggered hatch as well. Not only that, but a lot of crushed eggs from the other hens. This same hen went broody again about 4 weeks later. I wasn't comfortable with her sitting that long again so I gave her a couple of eggs from another broody that were close to hatching. She had one hatch the night before last and the other is starting to internally pip. You just have to use your own judgement when it comes to their health.

 

[KittyCat13]

That is great advice! When my next hen goes broody I will definitely try to pick the best eggs for her. When it comes to selecting eggs- Do they need to be put under the hen in a certain time period after they've been laid? I usually collect eggs around 3-4pm- would they all still be hatch able even if they were laid earlier that day? (Assuming they were fertile of course!) also- if the eggs do get dirty somehow- should you try to clean them or leave them?

Ideally you don't want to store them for more than a week/10 days before incubation. You may still have eggs that will hatch after being stored for longer, but fertillity will drop. Keep them somwhere coolish so they don't start to develop and aim to keep them pointy end facing downwards, a lot of people will turn them a couple of times a day, but I usually end up forgetting to do this!! It doesn't matter what time of day they are laid/colldcted, as long as they are all set under the hen at the same time.

You can candle them before incubation to see if there are any hairline cracks or if any eggs are super porous and discard these. Although if to notice an egg has a hairline crack partway through incubation you can try sealing the crack with some unscented candle wax, I had this a couple of weeks ago and the chick from the sealed egg hatched succesfully!

As for dirty eggs, I only select clean ones to start with as I worry trying to rub off dirt may drive bacteria into the egg, but some people will scrub dirt off or use an egg wash solution, it all comes down to personal preference/what works best for you!

If the broody poops on the nest and gets the eggs dirty, I'll flick any big bits of dried poop off, but other than that I wouldn't wash or scrub them after incubation has started. If you have a broody who you know is prone to pooping on the nest I would encourage her to leave the nest for food/drink/poop once a day to avoid this. Some of mine I've had to physically remove from the nest to do this as they just wouldn't get off otherwise!