When to sneak eggs / chicks under a broody

Island Roo

Songster
7 Years
Feb 14, 2012
466
36
151
Duncan, BC
I have 40 eggs in the incubator and 2 broody hens that I would like to raise the chicks. I would prefer to have 3 hens for 40 eggs but the rest are not falling for the fake eggs Ieft for them.

The eggs are due to hatch in 7 days. The hens have been broody for 10 days and 7 days.

I could give the hens real eggs from the incubator
a) today,
b) the day before the hatch
c) wait till after they hatch and try to sneak chicks under them

Any advice?
 
Are the 40 all developing? I was only asking bc we started with 24 and only 12 hatched so two hens might be able to cover the bunch if some aren't developing or don't hatch and make it but 40 chicks for two hens is way too much IMO :( I would say you could wait till a little closer till lockdown to put them under her but I really wouldn't put 20 eggs under each hens.,,,just too much to cover.

My experience, I only give my girl 12/13-I feel like she can easily warm, turn and tend to that much...I just played musical hatch and had some in incubator till lockdown and then slid them under my momma while she was already sitting on 10 and they hatched just fine (I knew which ones hatched under her that were grown in incubator) and then one chick hatched out that I threw under her on first day and she excepted it with no problems...I have two though that were in ICU and now need to go with her now that they are strong but I am NERVOUS about giving them to her now...patience and monitoring though I'm going to try but your right it is SO much easier when they brood themselves! GL!
 
I have 40 eggs in the incubator and 2 broody hens that I would like to raise the chicks. I would prefer to have 3 hens for 40 eggs but the rest are not falling for the fake eggs Ieft for them.

The eggs are due to hatch in 7 days. The hens have been broody for 10 days and 7 days.

I could give the hens real eggs from the incubator
a) today,
b) the day before the hatch
c) wait till after they hatch and try to sneak chicks under them

Any advice?
HI, I think 20 is to many also.......
They need room to turn the eggs so they do not get broken............the chicks need room when hatched or they may get smashed.
I'm all for about 12....
Also 20 is way to many for the hen to care for and watch......
JMHO..........=)
 
I figured 20 was too many eggs - which is why I considered waiting until they hatch and give the broodys day old chicks.

But I guess you're right. 20 is a lot of chicks for 1 mom.

I guess I'll have to split them up. 12 for each broody and the rest for me and the heat lamp.

I have 39 developing out of the 42 I had on day 1. 3 were not fertile. We'll see, I've had pretty good hatch rates once they've come this far.
 
Yea that sounds like a great hatch! I would do that, I JUST added in my two I needed to early and it went really well with momma excepting them (there unsure about it but she's ok with it) but watching her try to cover 12 chicks...well, there are heads popping out from all 360 degrees of her :lol:
 
Yea that sounds like a great hatch! I would do that, I JUST added in my two I needed to early and it went really well with momma excepting them (there unsure about it but she's ok with it) but watching her try to cover 12 chicks...well, there are heads popping out from all 360 degrees of her
lol.png
Thats great - I just got a visual of all those heads poking out.

I think this is one of the best things about owning chickens.
 
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It really is! I am constantly learning with them and there is nothing more amazing then watching her mother all those babies...the little babies I added started cheeping really loud not understanding fully that I was no longer there "momma" and she was and she lightly hit their beak with hers like "hush child" your fine! hahaha :D She's such a good momma...only problem is she is relentless and never stops. :p
 
I got 30 chicks out of the 42 eggs. Not bad for an amateur.

I decided to wait until they hatched and introduced them to the broodys as chicks. They were easily accepted. 15 chicks each and it looks like we have a co-parenting situation starting.

I don't usually name my chickens but the one with white ears is known as frostbite. I'm not really impressed with her as a mom yet - but we'll see.




 

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