How many hours a day should a hen sit on eggs? We are wondering if we should allow another hen to sit since mean hen seems to get off of them frequetly throughout the day. She does sit on them all night, and for a few hours at a time throughout the day.
Also...will she only do it after she has what she thinks is 'enough' eggs? We have been taking out her eggs as she lays them since we know they are not fertile. We have never tried to hatch eggs...so this is new to us!
How many hours/day does a hen have to sit on the eggs?
she should be on them all day every day for three weeks she gets of for about half an hour each day to dust bath eat drink ect then she gets back on
Hmmm...so since ours has been leaving for hours at a time they our eggs are probably not going to hatch. Any hints on how to get her to sit better?
Note what it says about not removing the eggs.
Stimulating the setting instinct
The most critical factor for inducing females of any bird species to set on eggs is the amount of daylight each bird is exposed to every day. The increasing length of daylight hours in the spring of the year stimulates the hens to lay and roosters to begin mating. The additional daylight eventually stimulates the hen to "set" on the eggs after a sufficient number of eggs accumulates in the nest. If eggs are removed each day, the hen may never become broody and start incubating or "setting" in the nest.
After the daylength reaches its maximum (June 21) the daylength starts decreasing and egg laying and setting tendencies decrease until the shortest day of the year arrives (December 21). The cycle then begins all over again. In general, hens require about 15-16 hours of continuous light daily to maintain good egg production. These seasonal factors have developed in all birds and most mammals through millions of years of natural evolution.
Hens can be be stimulated to lay or set on eggs during any season of the year if the lighting program they receive is carefully controlled. They must be "tricked" into thinking that they are in the springtime. Place artificial lights in the house and control them with timers so that the daylength is increased to about 17 hours each and every day. Do not vary the daylength that the hens receive or they will cease to lay and set.
After the hen accumulates a nest full of eggs (a clutch) sheinstinctively starts setting and incubating them. The ease to which she accepts this incubation responsibility varies within and among breeds, strains, and families of chickens. Some hens have better "mothering" instincts, while others are not as inclined.
Almost all females will be stirred into setting on the eggs if the daylength is maintained properly and the environment around the hen is good. Provide the hen with dark, secluded areas in which to make her nest. In this way she is not disturbed while setting on the eggs. The quality of the eggs can be maintained until setting begins by replacing good "setting eggs" each day with artificial or infertile eggs. When the hen begins incubating the eggs, all eggs in the nest can be replaced with the stored fertile eggs.
http://msucares.com/poultry/reproductions/poultry_setting.html
Ok...I threw out the old eggs. 5 of the six looked completely normal, one of them had just started to develope. I am going to not let her sit until we have around 10 eggs...hopefully this will be enough for her 'cluch'.
Should I be doing anything with the eggs I collect in the meantime? Leave them in her nest (with the door closed)? Bring them in the house? Turn them? Any suggestions?
I was trying to do the research myself but must not be searching the right terms. I thought this was as good of a topic as I was going to find. ;)
My neighbor wanted some blue eggs hatched and his birds would not sit on them. So he brought them down and we put them in the Silkies coop. He brought them down on April 30th. So today would be day 23. Am I wrong or right that the eggs should take about 21 days to hatch? I also read several people leave them a few more days to be sure.
They have sat on these eggs all day every day since we put them in. They come out in the morning to eat and drink and that is about it. The did roll a couple of the eggs out and we put an X on them to see if they were kicking out the same eggs or not. One, they pushed out 2-3 times so we got rid of it, thinking they knew something we did not.
The other day they rolled one out and we started to put it back but it was cracked and green and smelly so we tossed that one for sure. LOL
They hens are obviously doing what they are supposed to and long enough each day. Should I assume these eggs were not fertile or should I give it a bit more time? I don't want to toss any babies nor do I want to clean up a dozen rotten eggs. Bleck.
Hubby said we should wait until this weekend then get rid of them. I'm inclined to agree. My neighbor has game hens and obviously some Easter Eggers or mixed breeds. He wants them hatched so he has more blue egg layers. I was not sure if the breed affected the hatch time.
badseed, go out at night with a flashlight and candle them....
melissa, re-read what Hart said about the eggs. as you collect them, sotre them like you would to incubate, in a carton, small side down, in a temp between 40-60 d Far... turning the carton at a 45 degree angle at least twice a day. meanwhile, keep giving her fake eggs, palstice, wooden, even store bought. she needs to build her clutch. once she sets swap out the eggs... if she is a standard bird she will want nearly two dozen to start her clutch... so you may have to leave the fake eggs in there, just mark them.
tf
Grrr, my kids keep breaking the flashlights. LOL We also have to watch out for the evil Silkie Roo. ;) I guess we could get a new flashlight, lock him out for a few then try it. Thanks TF!
We got 15 additional hens Friday. Two of those hens have been laying on several eggs not there eggs. I have been watching and they do not leave the nest at the same time. I have only seen them leave one at a time and that was to eat and drink. We are kinda waiting to see what happens. Any advice?
ya might want to make a note on the calendar as to aobut when they started sitting. and when one is up, make a mark with an ink pen on the eggs, so you know which ones were already there. sometimes more eggs are laid later on, and get abandoned before they are ready. you could always have an incubator set up for the extra eggs, or just collect the unmarked eggs daily...
expect to see little peepers in about 21 days! btw, what kind of hens are they? and do you have aroo?
tf
Our sitting hens would get off the nest every few days but not everyday. They stretched, dust bathed, ate and drank a ton and then went right back.
TF no other hens are laying with these two hens. I do have roosters, but I found out that where these hens came from two chicks were borns a week before I got these hens. Do you think they have a mother instint. I really don't think these eggs are from either one of these new hens.
i have NO idea. but, after seven days, you can candle them and see if they are setting on peeps or doorknobs...
Well, we finally have chirping eggs on day 26! Another stupid question. Is it okay to leave the roo in there with the two females and the hatching eggs? Three of the eggs are cracked so they could be out any time.
i guess it depends. i threw everyone out but the broodies. made a nest elsewhere for them to lay. but after a few days, the roo and all the hens have been around them with no problems. anyone looks at a chick wrong and they get whonked on the head by a broody
congrats ont he chicks! no stupid questions here, just lack of answers sometimes...
tf
Good morning TF! I was woke up this morning with three chirping fuzz balls being tossed in my bed at 6am! It took those eggs 26 days to hatch! One is a silkie and the other two are my neighbors mixed breeds. One is a big yellow puffball and the other is a scrawny looking black one. The silkie of course is white with a big tuft on it's head. ;) I may ask my neighbor if I can keep his if only for a bit. I don't know what to do with one baby silkie. There are still two eggs left but those are his too.
He brought me the eggs because his hens did not want to sit on them. Funny thing is, last week, he found a nest with 20 live babies in it. LOL They let the mom keep them and by the next day there were only 3. They took them into the house. Now he said he has three more hens sitting on eggs.
yippee!