Why do non broody hens sit on their eggs after laying them????

[Mursal Mirza]

Hello everyone I'm a little new to BYC and chickens and I was wondering...

Well right now and twice before I cracked an egg open and they're was a little devolved embryo. Now at that time I had no broody hens and I was trying to make head or tails of how was there a slightly devoloped embryo in the egg, and it struck me! Every single time my hens lay their egg they sit on it for 30 mins EXTRA for god knows what reason! And I didn't find out where they were laying theyr eggs everyday so what might of happend is they kept sitting their to lay eggs giving warmth to the rest of the eggs making a little embryo develop, but I'm not sure! And if this is the correct answer then if I didn't open the eggs and kept them back when a hen went broody would the
super tiny looks like sat on for one day, embryo have started to develop again?? Thanks in advance

 

[The Phantom]

I have a white leghorn who started laying and she sits on her eggs most of the day. Weird because the are not supposed to be broody.

 

[SeaPolka]

Hello everyone I'm a little new to BYC and chickens and I was wondering...

Well right now and twice before I cracked an egg open and they're was a little devolved embryo. Now at that time I had no broody hens and I was trying to make head or tails of how was there a slightly devoloped embryo in the egg, and it struck me! Every single time my hens lay their egg they sit on it for 30 mins EXTRA for god knows what reason! And I didn't find out where they were laying theyr eggs everyday so what might of happend is they kept sitting their to lay eggs giving warmth to the rest of the eggs making a little embryo develop, but I'm not sure! And if this is the correct answer then if I didn't open the eggs and kept them back when a hen went broody would the
super tiny looks like sat on for one day, embryo have started to develop again?? Thanks in advance

Embryo's don't usually develop like that in a day, if you mean like a jellybean sized baby then it's probably 6-7 days old. You can try and help your hens go broody by leaving eggs in the nest or setting some ceramic ones in there. I have a hybrid who sits on her egg all day but never goes broody, some have the mothering instinct, others don't. If you have a rooster then your eggs are probably fertile so yes, if you put the eggs in an incubator or a broody they'll probably develop.