unsuccessful natural incubation

[oharamr]

I have a 2-year-old bourbon red hen that started laying eggs mid-March, went broody and started setting on them for good April 3. She started out with 11 eggs, broke 2 within a week, both of which had blood vessels and appeared to be developing normally. On her expected hatch date, she carried a broken, rotten one out of the nest. Today, we checked her and there was another broken, rotten one underneath her. We took her off the nest, and broke the rest of the eggs since they were 5 - 6 days past expected hatch. Almost all of them contained a dead poult at various stages of development and decay. This is the second year that this has happened with her. Last year she ended up breaking all of her eggs by the expected hatch date, but most of them seemed rotten. Last year, since she was fiercely broody at that point in time, with no eggs left, we gave her some fertile chicken eggs. She hatched and raised 3 healthy chicks from those.

Any ideas or suggestions as to what the issue might be? Once she goes broody, she sticks to the nest like glue, and when she hatched the chicks last spring, she was an excellent mother. It doesn't seem to be a behavior issue as much as some kind of health or environment issue maybe?

 

[thaiturkey]

I'm new to turkey keeping but I have read that some hens are very clumsy on the nest and can't be left to incubate.

From what I do know, you have two options:

1. Find a surrogate to sit on the eggs. Another broody turkey or hen.

2. Use an incubator.

 

[boxermom]

My BR went off the nest with 10 days to go. I now have 1 buff orpington raising 5 poults and another sitting on 6 eggs. In MY experience... (very little) I'd use chickens.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

It hard to say with natural incubation. If they were developing at first and died along the way it could anything. A spring cold front and they got chilled, the hen may have gotten off the nest for to long. The list goes on and on. One thing I have learned over time is hens hatched by a hen are much much better at sitting and raising poults than an incubated hen. Even if a chicken hatches and raises them they will still learn the process.

Steve