Will a chicken stay on extra for duck eggs to hatch?

[Emelyn]

I have a broody chicken right now that started to become broody on about Sunday or Monday. I wanted to place Cayuga duck eggs for her to hatch but I forgot and just remembered last night. So I went outside at 7pm with 3 eggs that were refrigerated and 2 eggs that were out for a few days. Do you think that any of them will hatch? (Also if any of you guys will, please tell me how to make a homemade incubator just in case she stops being broody)

 

[Yardmom]

First yes a good broody chicken will sit for the 4 weeks on duck eggs. If the eggs were layed within the last 2 weeks and kept at 50- 60 they should hatch. If they were kept cooler or warmer they still have a good chance. Some on BYC had experiments going with this on chickens. I don't know their percentages, but chicks did hatch.

 

[CoopsNPoops]

How long did she wait for a clutch before she started to brood? In other words, how many eggs is she sitting on, aside from the duck eggs you added? The refrigerated eggs "can" hatch, but with drastically lower chances. The unrefrigerated 2 have a pretty high probability of hatching if they are fertile. As for continuing to sit on them after her own hatch, that's really up to her. But it's unlikely. Once hers hatch, she will be ready to care for her own and consider the unmatched duds or a loss after only a couple days. She may even kick them out of the nest all together. Being duck eggs take much longer than the 21 days for her, i don't see it. You will likely need to incubate them for the rest of the time they have left.

 

[Yardmom]

Only 5 duck eggs
[/QUOTE They do not need there own eggs. For future readers. When you want to set a hen and want her to hatch eggs other than her own just remove her eggs and replace them with the eggs you want to hatch. Hatching babies is the stop not the day count.

 

[Emelyn]

When eggs get too cold the "Baby" dies even before it forms so if any were cold i would say you have a 1 in 10 chance of them hatching.

Some people said that you can refrigerate them for up to 2 weeks before they die I only had the eggs in the fridge for about 1 week.

 

[H-B-O]

Some people said that you can refrigerate them for up to 2 weeks before they die I only had the eggs in the fridge for about 1 week.

I have had bad expirence with cold eggs mine were cold for 2 days and then nothing i opened 1 of them and it was fertile but nothing. this happened 2 times.

 

[H-B-O]

Then how about the eggs that were out?

If they get cold then no. if they were 50-60 they should be fine

 

[Emelyn]

I have had bad expirence with cold eggs mine were cold for 2 days and then nothing i opened 1 of them and it was fertile but nothing. this happened 2 times.

According to National Geographic, while refrigeration won't kill the embryo, it will stop it from growing: “In fact, poultry breeders will sometimes refrigerate fertilized eggs as they collect them so they can start a large batch in the incubator all at the same time.”

I found this online

 

[Emelyn]

Ok then.. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH MINE????

They said it depends how cold your fridge was. Mine was cold but also pretty warm kind of. It's the type of fridge that won't spoil your food but still kind of warm and won't really cool you off in the summer when you open it.

 

[H-B-O]

They said it depends how cold your fridge was. Mine was cold but also pretty warm kind of. It's the type of fridge that won't spoil your food but still kind of warm and won't really cool you off in the summer when you open it.

Ohhh ok then the eggs should be fine