What do I do now

[punkgirrl]

I just had my 1st broody hen. She sat on her eggs like a good trooper. She stole a few eggs from other hens and ended up sitting on 11 eggs. She is a Buff. Well her BFF buff started to go broody like 3 days ago. Stole 3 of Blanch(They are the golden Girls)'s eggs. She was sitting well also. So yesterday an egg hatched. Yeah I have a baby. But now both hen are out of the hen house not sitting on the eggs that are left. So two hens are sitting on one baby on the fool of the pen. What do I do with the eggs? Are they bad? Do I try to incubate them?

 

[Mahonri]

If they didn't get cold for too long, you could incubate them.

 

[1shotcleaner]

id try to incubate them to the finish.

 

[punkgirrl]

Quote:
What side do I point down?

 

[LuvMyBLR]

Quote:
What side do I point down?

The small end. Opposite of how they sit in commercial eating egg cartons.

 

[cmom]

I would put them in an incubator and finish the hatch. I don't know how the weather is where you live but it is hot here. I think they will hatch just fine.

 

[punkgirrl]

I have them in the incubator now. It was not up to temp yet. But I am hopeful they will hatch

 

[CupOJoe42]

I was going to suggest getting some Silkies - they love to sit on eggs! (Chicken math)

Good luck with your eggs. How is the baby doing?

 

[DAFox]

This Spring, when I had so many more Broodies than space, I had 3 hens that I put eggs under on the same day. I put the 3 of them in a pen that was only 4 x 6. Each Broody had a plastic tote as a nest box with each opening pointed to a corner. I never had them switch nests or steal eggs or abandon one nest in favor of fighting over another. Then, on hatching day, after half the eggs hatched, I gave all the chicks to one hen, all the eggs to another hen and moved her to a temporarily open pen, so that she would not abandon the nest to try to take care of chicks. The 3rd hen was super thin, so I put her in a cage to break her broodiness. When all the eggs that were viable hatched, I gave the chicks to the hen that already had the chicks and put the 2nd hen in a cage to break her broodiness. (Normally, I like to let every hen have chicks, but I ran out of room).

I keep Broodies separate from my flock, so that I know what eggs she is sitting on and that they are all given to her on the same day. When I have a hen that abandons the rest of the eggs, in favor of taking care of chicks, I take the chicks away temporarily or put them back on the nest, so she goes back to the eggs if I think they still might hatch. The hen settles down then and goes back to incubating mode.

I have only learned all this from making a ton of mistakes. And every broody hen is different. And every situation is different.
Good luck with hatching the rest.
Dale-Ann

 

[punkgirrl]

Quote:
LOL oh this chicken math is getting me

I didn't have the humidy up in my incubator so I only had one chick hatch. So I had to get 2 friends so it had a flock. Now I have this new chick. Do I have to get another chick for a friend??