Hey I think I've got a broody - help and advice again please

[Newtothis]

We just got too eager and excited didn't we!

You must know how it is - first broody hen - visions of cute chicks - just have a peek on ebay to see how things are done with hatching eggs - see just the eggs we'd like and auction ending in 20 mins too! - looks like a good ebayer - whoops - well I'll just put on the one bid then, someones bound to outbid me......

Eggs arrived today, well packaged and all sound, so just Mafanwy to sort out now.

I'll try the run in a more secluded spot RH and keep her in. Hopefully she'll get with the program. She sort of growled at me this morning as well, and definately looked 'gert offish'.

The eggs cost very little really - £4.60 + £4 postage so I won't cry if all comes to nought.

How long can we keep them before the viability fails?
Does it help to fridge them?

I'll have to invest in some plastic eggs too if we do this often, sounds like a good idea. Where do you get them from RH?

The ones that are under her at the moment aren't fertilised Hilary as we don't have a cockrel - neighbours wouldn't be very pleased(night shifts) - but I was just concerned that they might go off or spoil because of being kept so cosy. Or does it not hurt that they have been sat on for 5 or 6 days?

thanks again - will keep you posted on progress.

David

[RichmondHens]

You can get fake eggs from most chicken equipment suppliers - they do them in a variety of sizes. But if you are happy to expend normal eating eggs then these are still the best to "start" a broody on, some actually won't sit on anything but a real egg, others will sit happily on golf balls, stones, anything that could roughly pass as an egg!

Please don't fridge the eggs that are waiting, you can kill the germ cell (I actually put my "eating" eggs in a cold fridge deliberately as they are all fertile to prevent people buying them as eaters and then trying to hatch them.) I store hatching eggs at room temperature and there is some controversy as to the best position but I lay mine on their side in a basket or plastic punnet and turn them a couple of times a day. Some people like to put them in an egg box pointy end down but I go with what would happen if the hen laid into her own nest. I have experimented with laying them in different positions and have had best hatch rates from ones lying in a natural position on their side.

You can keep hatching eggs for up to 10 days, sometimes 14 if they haven't travelled, but with e bay eggs I would play it safe and try and get them under the hen within a week of being laid if you know the date of lay.

[Newtothis]

Eggs went under early this morning - we're very impatient aren't we.

I'd kept them in the unheated bathroom(under construction) since yesterday 10am, so I hope they settled down after thier trip.

Myfanwy is covering them, and the two original eggs like she's always done this sort of thing - so we are cautiously optomistic now.

Leaving her too things and moving her into a quite spot really helped - thanks again RH.
So.....it'll just be 21 days now......can't wait!

Is there anything that we need to be looking out for over the next week or so?

David

[RichmondHens]

Take the original infertile eggs away, she only needs to be incubating the fertile ones. There is need for her to expend energy trying to keep warm more eggs than she needs to and you run the risk of one of the fertile ones getting pushed out into the cold if she favours her original ones. You can remove them after dark if you don't want to disturb her during the daytime.

Nothing really to look out for, apart from massive broody poos!! If she does start to soil in the nest (again some do some don't) then remove it as soon as you notice it - and you will, it stinks - by pushing the bird gently to one side and scooping it out with your hand or wodge of grass or straw. Sounds yucky but again you will upset the hen and risk breaking an egg if you try and get it out with a trowel or other implement. If you find she is a persistent soiler and you end up needing to take her off the nest lift her up gently at dusk each evening and throw her into the air a little way, this makes them flap and subsequently poo. As it is getting dark they won't wander far and will go back on the nest really quickly. But I would see how she does over the next few days before resorting to this, she may be perfectly clean and sort herself out.

Make sure she always has access to grain, grit and water and let her get on with it. I put the food and water outside in the run so the hen has to get off and look for it, this makes them stretch their legs and generally encourages them to poo before returning to the nest. Don't forget to remove food at night, you really don't want to encourage rats anywhere near a broody coop.

Good luck and keep us posted on progress.

[petal]

Yeah phew- broody poos are obnoxious and there is no way I would stick my hand in one RH!!there is another thing- i candle (you can make an egg candler out of a narrow torch with black tube around end to channel light) our eggs, incubated or broody and remove duds(clears) or those that have died- shows up as a blood ring- at 7 days then 14 days. i feel its unfair to let a hen sit on dud eggs for 21 days or for one of them to go rotten and explode and contaminate the rest. our buff orpington seems to know when an egg is rubbish and pushes it out the nest. It also means that just in case your ebay seller is dodgy-you never know- (they are aggressive sellers and attack anyone who dares to suggest they might not actually have a cockerel to fertilise their eggs!hence- the A* seller jargon nonsense, so don't trust a word of it, also they use other peoples pictures off google to sell their tesco eggs!) you will have a chance to get more eggs off a reputable breeder. If i want eggs I tend to contact someone in practical poultry- in the back of the magazine there are loads of contacts- many quite close to you! Hope that is useful!and good luck- we had some buff orpington eggs off ebay once that were great, so you never know!

[Newtothis]

Thanks Petal.
I agree with the broody poo analysis, and there is just so much of it!! It's fortunate that she only goes every other day, and at the moment in the run.
I hope that my ebay eggs are OK - they are at least the correct colour.
Do you need special kit for candling?

David

[chris]

Sounds exciting! I'd love to hatch, my wife won't agree to it though (dispatching the male chicks- so for me, at least I'd need an autosexing type). She says it's a waste of life by just hatching and getting rid of males. Being in a built up area, growing on males to eat isn't possible..

GL Though - keep us informed and get some pictures up!

[Hilary B]

When I had chooks, and hatched eggs from time to time, I made a candler out of a very ordinary (but bright) torch, a loo-roll-middle and some black insulating tape. You stick the middle thing onto the torch so that the light has to shine down the tube, using the black tape to prevent any light going anywhere else.
To use, place the egg on the end of the tube, and switch on. It needs practice (or some good illustrations) to learn how to interpret what you see, but an unfertilized egg (or one which hasn't been brooded) looks pretty much the same all through.
Dark shelled eggs are much harder to work out.

[Newtothis]

I might try candling before too long then - though she was a bit jumpy yesterday withh all the bad weather and I'll let her settle for a few days first maybe. I'll be saving my loo tube middle then - thanks Hilary.
These eggs are blue shelled so should be fairly transparent (thats probably not the right word but I can't think what is?)

David

[RichmondHens]

I wouldn't candle until at least 7 or 8 days have passed. Some people do it earlier (at 5 days) but I tend to wait at least a week, contents are more obvious then. And it may sound obvious but do it at night. Try and take the eggs out from behind the hen, reaching under her tail for them - I once made the mistake of taking them out the front, the hen pecked at my hand, missed me and put a hole in the egg instead!

[Newtothis]

Thanks RH. I won't try for a couple of days anyway as she was a bit put out with the bad weather yesterday. I'll let her settle first. It'll be about 10 days on the weekend - is that to late? If not I'll wait until then.
If I don't candle and just leave nature to take it's course am I likely to get more problems than if I do?
Myfanwy seems to be looking after herself so far - not messing the nest and popping out into the run for some food and water and the occaisional poo!
Would it be neglectful of me just to leave her too it?

David

[RichmondHens]

No, not at all. The less you disturb them the better. A lot of people like to candle because if an egg is obviously not fertile then it's best to throw it away rather than letting the hen expend energy trying to keep it warm, plus if it breaks it could contaminate the other eggs. But in my experience hens left to do their own thing with little or no interference hatch more successfully. I have had several bantams go off and hatch their own broods completely unaided in the hedge or other hiding place. Three years ago I found one of my "naughty" bantams had laid a clutch of eggs in a seemingly quite unsuitable place next to the outside wall of a pig sty in some undergrowth with the overhang of the roof constantly dripping down and seemingly soaking the nest. I wasn't sure how far the eggs had gone so left her to it, a few days later I realised I hadn't seen her about so was sure the eggs must be near to hatching, checked on her and found her sitting on 14 chicks - she had hatched the lot!

[Newtothis]

I checked on her today and took these pics.

Not very good as I was trying to get a peek at the eggs whilst she was in the run, but she worked out what was up and got back sharpish and just growled at me.
There are only five eggs now!

No mess in the nesting area, but a few bits of broken shell in the run.

Not sure what has caused this.

She was very skittish and may have broken one yesterday in the bad wheather, or maybe she just kicked it out of the nest cause she thought it wasn't right?

I've checked all around the run and there are no signs of rodents trying to get in.....



I hope the other five will be OK, and she isn't going to get an appetite for eggs!

David

[RichmondHens]

She could have broken it, it does happen from time to time. She looks nice and snug in her nest. Are they cream legbar eggs?

[petal]

I reckon she didn't like that egg and kicked it out of the nest where it broke. It does happen.