When to get fertile eggs for broody hen

[chooki]

I have a pet chicken, she is 11 months old. She has started to go broody yesterday.

As there is no rooster, the egg she is sitting on can not be hatched. I am thinking of buying some fertile eggs for her.

However, I am worried that once I get those eggs, she will stop wanting to hatch them.

Is there a general guideline on when to get fertile eggs for your broody hen?

Since I have heard that some breeds are more broody than others, here is a picture of my chicken when she was younger (she is not a pure breed):

Here is a photo of her in the nesting box today:

 

[cavemanrich]

Get some asap, and let her try to hatch them. I am assuming you can get them locally, and bring them home. Shipped eggs are a different story.
Get six, and see what happens. You may want a backup plan like a small Incubator. They are quite reasonable for the small sizes. They do work. Better option would be to see if anyone near you could borrow you one.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Perris]

what cavemanrich said
Assuming you can get some locally, best chances of success are if you can pick them up in person from the seller, handle them carefully, mark them so you know they're the fertile ones (unless they are a different colour from any your own hens lay) and remove any eggs already in the nest when you place these in. I find it easiest to insert them when the broody is off for her daily feed/drink/poop/dustbath, but that demands more time hanging around than most people have available. Mark up your calendar 21 days hence, and that's when they should hatch. Good luck and enjoy - broodies are wonderful

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

She's a beautiful pullet
If you can get some fertile eggs to try under her then go for it
Is it her first time going broody? Sometimes an in experienced pullet will quit before hatch so if you can have an incubator on standby then that's a good idea of Cavemanrich.
Good luck!

 

[chooki]

Thanks for all information.
Yes, it's her first time going broody. It's also my first time having to taking care of a broody pullet. I had 2 isa brown hens and a few cockerels. None of them went broody.
So I went to the closest place to get some fertile eggs and was told the hatching rate is only 30%-40%??! Since I am new, I am not sure whether this is normal.

Anyways, let's see what happens. My pet chicken seems very happy to be sitting on more eggs than that she has ever sat on.
I will be happy as long as some of those eggs hatch.

 

[Perris]

lovely photo!

was told the hatching rate is only 30%-40%??! Since I am new, I am not sure whether this is normal.

that is lower than normal, but according to some old poultry manuals I have, fertility is poor this time of year. Roos' energies are going into the molt too.
Do you know what breed(s) laid/fertilized the eggs? Did you see the parent stock?

 

[chooki]

No I did not see the parent stock. According to the seller, they are Australorp, RIR and Light Sussex mixed breeds. May not be the best for hatching chicks, it's just the closest seller to my home.

 

[cavemanrich]

According to the seller, they are Australorp, RIR and Light Sussex mixed breeds

I thing you will be very happy with these mixes. I would to see when they hatch out.

 

[Perris]

me too!

 

[Perris]

fertility is poor this time of year

I missed that you are in the Antipodes, so my comment was invalid; fertility should be good in the spring, so I don't know why it should be so low. An old roo perhaps? Generally mixes have hybrid vigour, so if anything, it should be better than pure breed rates. Anyway, fingers crossed for a good hatch for you and your broody