Broody rejecting eggs

slowef · « **on:** May 22, 2007, 21:23 »

Yummy has started kicking eggs out of the box and has pecked a hole in one of them. Why has she after 8 days decided that these are no good. I am now down to 4 eggs and only 1 of the Buff Orpington eggs is included, these are the ones I wanted to hatch most!

babe · « **Reply #1 on:** May 22, 2007, 21:50 »

hi, my eggs are due to hatch on thursday and only this morning i found pavlova had cracked one and thrown it out. i am assuming she has realised that its not going to hatch so has chucked it out. i can see movement in four of the others, the fith im not sure of.
its my first try at hatching eggs so if i get one to hatch i will be blown away. i'm so excited that my mates think ive lost the plot.

i guess this is where the saying 'don't count your chickens....' comes from.

Midwife · « **Reply #2 on:** May 22, 2007, 22:29 »

I've had the same problem with a broodie kicking her eggs out and cracking them. My rooster stood on one killing the chick inside. This is my first time hatching too so i'm not sure why they do this. Its frustrating and sad

wendypate · « **Reply #3 on:** May 23, 2007, 09:03 »

Hi

This is my first time too and i have moved my hen into a crate in the garage having had 3 chicks that are fully formed but dead - why is that??

I didn't realise that you could keep the eggs and then she sits on them all so they all hatch at once - i thought that the embryos would die if they weren't sat on straight away!! So I will have chicks of all ages if anything ever happens.

Wendy

slowef · « **Reply #4 on:** May 23, 2007, 09:29 »

I decided after day one to let her do it herself as she should know more than me. I will see what happens with this batch and then if she goes broody again I am going to put her in a sided crate so she can't kick eggs out willy nilly annd supervise her for the gestation period and see if she does any better.

I do wonder, as she came with 2 chicks as a job lot at auction whether that is the number she finds best to rear, but probably coincidence

oh, wondered about moving a hen out of the main house for brooding about the return and bullying when she is reintroduced after her gestation period?

babe · « **Reply #5 on:** May 23, 2007, 10:17 »

my chickens have their own garden so they free range, and they go in and out of the hen house as and when they choose. we adapted a large rabbit hutch and run into the maternity block and its place in the chickens garden and the others can still see pavlova and she can still see and hear them.

ive checked pavlova today and the other chooks all came to say hi, so im not forseeing any problems when she no longer needs the maternity block.

can clearly hear tweeting and tapping in the eggs this morning. can anyone tell me if this means they will hatch soon. its 20 days today?

thanks

slowef · « **Reply #6 on:** May 24, 2007, 07:25 »

I cant see any of these eggs hatching she abandoned them for ages yesterday don't now why but I could not get her back on them. She has pushed them out and pulled them back so many times don't know which are potential hatchers or duds now

Should I take them all away and cut my loses or just leave them to see. I don't want to leave her on a batch of useless eggs it seems unfair on her.

Any ideas please?

babe · « **Reply #7 on:** May 24, 2007, 09:35 »

have you candled any to see whats going on inside?

slowef · « **Reply #8 on:** May 24, 2007, 09:46 »

Don't know how to do it??

babe · « **Reply #9 on:** May 24, 2007, 10:55 »

i bought a small torch from tesco's and then used the sample pictures from http://www.homestead.com/shilala/candling.html

shows what fertile and unfertile eggs look like and how to candle without spending £40 on one.

i just waited until dark then held my hand around the torch end and egg and was surprised how much i could see. and using a normal torch hasnt hurt the chicks as they are hatching nicely.

i found i had to try and keep my hands really still and just watch for a minute but could definately see that there was something going on.

hope that helps a bit, as im still new to this so its just how i did it.

mercury · « **Reply #10 on:** May 24, 2007, 11:08 »

Quote from: "happyvalley"

i bought a small torch from tesco's and then used the sample pictures from http://www.homestead.com/shilala/candling.html

shows what fertile and unfertile eggs look like and how to candle without spending £40 on one.

i just waited until dark then held my hand around the torch end and egg and was surprised how much i could see. and using a normal torch hasnt hurt the chicks as they are hatching nicely.

i found i had to try and keep my hands really still and just watch for a minute but could definately see that there was something going on.

hope that helps a bit, as im still new to this so its just how i did it.

Another way, is to fill a bowl with lukewarm water, put the eggs in, the ones with live chicks in them will bob about, you have to watch closely, some of them only move very slightely, i do this all the time, with no ill affects

eating fertile eggs from under a broody!! and general broody questions Started by frenchliving on The Hen House	1 Replies 2315 Views	June 13, 2012, 20:58 by ANHBUC
If eggs don't hatch can i replace eggs under broody hen? Started by ---Snakey--- on The Hen House	5 Replies 3984 Views	May 31, 2011, 08:20 by Sassy
Broody and eggs - Day 18 Started by Idolikeink on The Hen House	2 Replies 1861 Views	August 17, 2014, 19:59 by Idolikeink
Broody hen but no eggs? Started by Mum2mj on The Hen House	2 Replies 1296 Views	January 01, 2015, 09:07 by Mum2mj